I flew to the Dominican Republic to meet my boyfriend’s family. It was new years eve and I couldn't wait to celebrate and just enjoy a short vacation with them.

It was midnight and after bringing in the new year with a bunch of hugs and kisses, we decided to go have fun in these closed down streets where there was loud music, crowds, dancing and drinking... We all danced until the sun came up, so a couple of my boyfriend’s cousins decided for all of us to go to the beach. We head to the car and its packed so my boyfriend and I shared the passenger seat, no seatbelts, and of course, the driver hadn't had any sleep.. Next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital, tons of nurses around me, talking to me, cutting my dress up, cleaning my face. The driver had fallen asleep and we crashed into a wall. Luckily I fell asleep right before so I don't remember a thing about the car accident or the ambulance ride.

My boyfriend told me everyone got out of the car but I stayed, my eyes kept rolling back and all he could do was scream my name... he tried getting up but he would just fall... I learned that I fractured my left femur, hip, pelvis, my left hand, rib fractures, spinal fractures, and I’m stuck in ICU, with my boyfriend nowhere near me, I felt alone, nobody from MY family is there, and I can't help but scream and cry... and continue to ask myself "Why me".... but thank god I’m alive... and all of us came out alive. The pain was horrendous, I was losing so much blood, I was nowhere near the average blood level... I felt relieved to see my mother walking through the doors, I fell in love with everyone in my boyfriends family because they visited me and treated me like if I was one of their own.

 I had my leg surgery on the 4th. And I was still losing a lot of blood and kept getting blood transfusions. It came to a point where they had to run out and find donors because they ran out of my type of blood. My mom couldn't take it anymore, and she wanted us to go back to Miami, where they could find out why I’m losing so much blood. She cried to my sister, and told her we needed to get me back to Miami because she was afraid I was going to die over there. my sister tried with Humana, and they said they didn’t cover the ambulance plane to bring me over, but they said they were going to try another way. in the meantime, my sister tried online, and the cheapest private plane was 20,000.00 which of course, we don’t have. A couple of co-workers called the embassy of Dr.. and the one in Miami, still, nothing.

Then my sister received a phone call from the people of Sapoznik Insurance saying that our life insurance policy covers that, and that they were going to arrange everything for us to go home free of charge. They took care of everything, All we had to do was wait for them to show up.

It was SUCH a relief on everyone, I really didn't want to leave my boyfriend behind, but if it was for the better. I couldn't deal with my mom crying, because if she cried then I would cry, so I told her I needed her to be strong, so that I could be strong, I looked up to her.

On the 7th the paramedics came, we went on an ambulance to a nearby airport and got on the private jet, it was very small, it just had room for me, my mom, and the team of paramedics,  but I felt safe  going back to the U.S,  and glad i was finally going to see my family. We landed at the airport, and an ambulance took me and my mom to Jackson Memorial hospital. As soon as I got to the hospital they ran a bunch of tests and x-rays and they found out my liver was punctured and that's why I kept losing blood, they did surgery right away... finally, the bleeding stopped and I was out of the ICU... I had surgery for my hand on the 15th. And I just rested until they released me the 21st.
As the days go by, its hard sometimes, and its a slow process...but I just have to thank God we're alive, and hope that things just get better from here on. I’m so grateful to everyone who helped in getting me back home with my family.

-       Braman Employee 2010