Sister Erica Kohn has been a member of New Beginnings Ministries of Jacksonville since the start of the church. She is a member of the Praise Team and Young Adult Action Committee. 

I was driving in the car to go pick up a friend. I was driving down I-10 passing Cassatt Avenue and there was huge debris in the lane that I was driving in. I tried to swerve and miss the debris, but it was difficult to see because it was late at night. 

I don’t remember much from the actual accident. The only thing I remember is waking up upside down on my passenger side floor. Apparently I smashed into the cement guardrail and median. 

I woke up to a woman opening up my drivers door asking me not to move because I was trying to get up on my right arm and left leg. 

The reason that I could not get up on my right arm is because it was totally paralyzed. I could not get up on my left leg because I had broken my left femur. 

I woke up in the ambulance to them cutting off my clothes. 

The extent of the injuries were: my right arm partially paralyzed due to nerve damage; punctured lungs, which caused the to collapse; broken ribs on both sides; fractured spine; fractured left femur. 

They put a metal plate around my left femur, which is going to stay there forever. 

My arm is getting better after a year.  Month by month it is gaining feeling and movement back. 

My hand is extremely sensitive to touch and temperatures. I try to keep a glove on it as much as possible, because the healing is a painful process. But the painful process is positive, because at least I am feeling something in my arm. 

I was in the hospital for over a month. I had to wear a neck and back brace for four months. I was going to therapy twice a week for six to eight months.

Then I got a job at web.com — thank God for that. 

I am able to drive again with my one arm. So I thank God for being alive and well after all of those injuries.