The Will To Live: A Young Woman's Valiant Effort to Regain Her Life After a Hit-And-Run Driver Almost Took It from Her.

By Kimberly A Freeman

The Will To Live: A young woman's valiant effort to regain her life after a hit-and-run driver almost took it from her

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 3, 2009
• ISBN: 9781456767525

Kimberly A Freeman

Kimberly A. Freeman is from Washington D.C. and has spent most of her life living in Silver Spring, Maryland. She is the youngest of four girls, all of whom are redheads! She has an associate degree in Business, but has been a server in different restaurants since she was 18. Kimberly moved to Florida in 2005, mainly because she hates cold weather. Her life was changed forever when she was jogging in Lake Worth, Florida in 2006 and was hit by a hit-and-run driver. This book is a first-person story written by Kimberly (and her mother) about her long and difficult recovery....from coming out of her coma unable to walk or talk, having to re-learn everything that five-year-old’s are taught, facing physical and emotional setbacks, and doing whatever she could to get her life back.

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© 2009 Kimberly A Freeman. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/31/2023

ISBN: 978-1-4389-6181-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-6752-5 (e)

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Contents

Chapter One I just wanted to jog

Chapter Two So much done in such little time

Chapter Three Wow, I can’t do anything

Chapter Four Starting over

Chapter Five Almost everyone in a hospital is great….almost

Chapter Six One would have guessed that I was a little kid

Chapter Seven You never miss something until it’s gone

Chapter Eight You win some, you lose some

Chapter Nine What in the world is going on?

Chapter Ten Still trying to keep my head above water

Chapter Eleven I walked over to my mom as she hugged me, and I continued to cry on her shoulder.

Chapter Twelve The best present I could ever get

Chapter Thirteen Things are finally looking up

Chapter Fourteen If just one student soaked it in, it was worth it

Chapter Fifteen My evaluation

Chapter Sixteen Going back home

Chapter Seventeen Keeping my mind on track

Chapter Eighteen It took a while, but I finally enjoyed going

Chapter Nineteen Excited was an understatement

Chapter Twenty I wasn’t there yet, but at least she got her life back

Chapter Twenty-One How could I not??

Chapter Twenty-Two Getting my life back…. Slowly but surely

Chapter Twenty-Three It was time

Chapter Twenty-Four All the little things that we never think twice about

Chapter Twenty-Five And life goes on

This book is

dedicated to the following:

~Each and every friend, customer, co-workers of my mom,

co-workers of my dad and people whom I have never

even met but still thought about me and prayed for me.

~Everyone from the Wellington, FL ward, Derwood, MD ward

and the Seneca, MD stake. Thank you for your prayers and fasts.

~All my back-in-the-day co-workers, both at TGI Friday’s

and Longhorn Steakhouse. I appreciate the phone calls,

hospital visits, and just always wondering how I was doing.

~My parents; my three sisters, Tiffany, Elizabeth and

Deborah; my niece and nephews who always kept me smiling,

Brianna, Tyler and Anthony; and my extended family.

~Every doctor, nurse and therapist who helped bring me

back to life: Dr. Rodriguez, Dr. Sachs, Dr. Weisz, Dr.

Farronay, Dr. Farber, Dr. Dardano, Cynthia, Wendy, Chad,

Rosanna, Candy, John, Sandy, Angela, Elvis, Debbie,

Karina, Sue, Jimena and everyone else who I forgot to

list. Trust me, I am indebted to all of you. I know I would

not be walking and talking if it weren’t for you all.

~My Heavenly Father. Despite how I went through hell

to get where I am, for some reason, He kept me here.

~My mother. I love you more than I can ever say. There

are no words in the English language to thank you for

stopping everything you were doing to become my

personal nurse, my guardian, my interpreter, and my

best friend. You were, and will always be, my angel.

Chapter One

I just wanted to jog

A bunch of friends came over on a Saturday night to hang out with me, for the last time. Myke and I spent time together the whole weekend. The tall, outgoing, handsome man had been one of my best friends for about four years. We always loved each other’s company. We hung out at least twice a week, if not more, and despite the many fights we had, we always came back to each other.

The moving truck was coming on Monday. I decided to move to Florida because I was tired of the cold weather, the traffic, and just the fact that I have been in Maryland almost my whole life. I was ready for a change, a permanent change. My sister and best friend, Elizabeth, and my (then) nine-year-old nephew, Anthony, drove with me from Maryland to Florida. It took about sixteen hours to drive down there. We started driving on Tuesday at ten o’clock in the morning. Tuesday night, we ended up somewhere in North Carolina and went to a hotel. It was small and run by a family. We could have stopped at any of the many well-known hotels around the area, but we chose the cheapest. We went in the room and right away we could tell it was cheap, but we were tired and did not want to spend a lot of money. Anthony went right to sleep, while Elizabeth and I laid down planning to go to sleep, but we couldn’t help but laugh. First, anytime the air turned on, there was a loud sound that made you feel like there’s a train going by. I got up to go to the bathroom, and right in front of me on the toilet was a cockroach. I told Elizabeth, and we both started laughing until we could barely breathe. She said we didn’t know there would be a fourth person in our room. Next came the fact that there was almost no toilet paper in the bathroom. It was about 11:00 p.m., but we knew that all three of us would need to use the bathroom in the morning, so we walked outside to the front desk. There was no one there. We rang the bell that barely even made a noise, and an adult wearing pajamas entered the room, along with two children also wearing pajamas. I told him that we needed toilet paper. He asked us to hold on, then walked away. A minute later, he handed us half of a toilet paper roll. I would normally tell him that we would like an entire roll, but it was late and I knew we had many more miles to drive tomorrow. So we just accepted it and went back into our room. Of course, we just laughed even more about being given what seemed like their old toilet paper. We finally calmed down our laughing and fell asleep.

Wednesday, we reached our destination. Florida. Perfect weather, nice summer breeze, a lot of palm trees, and the chance for a new, exciting life. Being beyond glad that we did not have to drive anymore, we parked in the driveway of George and Tiffany’s house. Tiffany is my oldest sister, who married George six years ago, and had dated while living in Maryland. They both had decided to move down to Florida for the same reason that I did.

Another reason I wanted to move to Florida is because I missed my niece and my other nephew, Brianna (then 11) and Tyler (then 13). I have always been very close with my niece and nephews, more so than your average aunt. I have always been especially close with Tyler. So ever since Tiffany decided to move to Florida, I always thought about him and couldn’t wait to see him.

Elizabeth and Anthony stayed for a few days. She helped me unpack, and Anthony was on cloud nine playing video games and spending time with Tyler. As much as I could not wait to leave Maryland behind, I knew that would include leaving my best friend. Elizabeth and I have been peas and carrots for as long as I remember. The day it was time for her to go back to the place I was glad to leave, I cried harder and longer than I had in a long time. I felt like no matter where I chose to live, I would lose. But there were just too many negatives in staying in Maryland. So I wiped my tears as much as I could and said goodbye. The next couple months were very hard for both of us. We could not have our date night every Saturday anymore, we missed getting our nails done together, and even though we talked on the phone, it wasn’t the same.

I have been a server for the past six years, ever since I graduated from high school. So when I moved to West Palm Beach, I looked for a well-known, busy restaurant where I would be able to make good money.

I worked at Longhorn Steakhouse, and went in head first. I worked five or six days a week, and I absolutely loved working there. I got along with my managers, I loved my co-workers, and I made a good amount of money. In September I decided to go back to school to finish my college degree. I only needed twelve more credits, so I added school three times a week to my already busy schedule. Tiffany had her third child, George II. I have a tattoo of three small stars on my right leg for my kids: one star for Tyler, one for Brianna, and the third for Anthony. But now, despite how much it hurt, I knew I had to get another star added to my tattoo. Even though I was always busy and almost never home, I was very satisfied with how things were going. I loved my job, I knew I was going to graduate from college soon, and I found and got along with two females who were looking for a third roommate. I lived just twenty minutes away from my niece and nephews, so I spent time with them whenever I was free.

In December, I was finally done with school, for good. I received a degree in Business. I went out to clubs and bars with many of my co-workers: cooks, servers, and hostesses, about every other weekend, sometimes staying out until three or four in the morning. Now Christmas was just around the corner. Elizabeth and Anthony flew down from Maryland to be with us, as well as to enjoy the lack of snow, even if only for a week. For every week that passed, I was loving my new life more and more. I graduated from college, I was even closer to my niece and my nephews, I had no complaints about my job, and I never had to wear a coat and scarf again. February is always a busy month in restaurants. Specifically, Valentine’s Day is a crazy day. Some workers choose not to work on that day since they know it’s going to be such an insane and stressful day. But I always wanted to work whenever I knew it would be busy, especially Valentine’s Day. The only problem was that Myke had flown down to see me for the week. After I moved away from Maryland, we missed each other so much, and had started gaining serious feelings for each other. I hadn’t seen him for the past seven months, so I could not wait to see him. I had taken six days off work to spend time with him, but I had to decide whether I wanted to spend Valentine’s Day with him or working and making a lot of money. But since we lived in two different states and couldn’t see each other very often, I chose to spend the week with him. We were together 24/7 the whole time he was there. Anyone would assume that we were together, but technically we still were not. We both have gotten severely hurt from our ex’s, so even though we wanted nothing more than to be together, it was hard to make the leap.

Myke went back to Maryland and those six days came and went with me still being single. A couple days after Valentine’s Day, I was at my friend Justin’s house when Myke called me. I loved spending time with you last week. I like you so much, and I know you would be an awesome girlfriend. I can’t stand thinking about you dating someone else, so I’ll just say it. Will you be my girlfriend?

I could not help but smile the whole time he was talking. I didn’t have to think about it for one second. Right away, I answered, Of course.

We talked on the phone almost every single night. I usually worked during dinner time instead of lunch, since the restaurant was busier and I made more money at night. We would always talk after I got home, which was anytime from 9 p.m. to midnight. In the beginning of February, I had started eating very healthy and exercising. I went to the gym all the time and sometimes jogged at night. I could already tell that I was losing a little weight, and my energy level was higher than usual.

It was March 20th, 2006 and I had worked lunch, then went to Tiffany’s house for the evening. Around 9:30 p.m., in leaving to go home, I told her that since I did not work the next day, I wanted to take Tyler and Brianna to the beach, and she said that would be fine. I got home and called Myke to tell him that I was going to go jogging, and I would call him when I came back. He asked me not to jog, because we had not finished a discussion we had started the night before. I told him I had a stressful day at work and had a few cheap customers, so I really wanted to jog first just to release, and then call him later. So I took off my server uniform and changed into a loose shirt, light gray capris, and tennis shoes. I put my long curly red hair into a bun, grabbed and turned on my iPod, and left the house. Just thirty seconds later, I ran back into the house to grab my cell phone. I never took my phone when I jogged, but if Myke texted me (which he did all the time), I didn’t want to miss it. I didn’t have pockets in my capris, so I just held my phone in my hand, and left. I started listening to a Fall Out Boy song in my iPod, and started jogging.

Chapter Two

So much done in such little time

I always jogged on the same route, staying on the sidewalk of a main road, and crossing two intersections. It was crossing the second intersection where the car ran into me. I was hit hard and fast. I was thrown 50 feet and landed on my head, on the concrete. A