Cary, NC
On Friday, March 30th, 2012 Teresa was in a serious car accident on the way to a rehearsal for a wedding she was shooting the next day in Pinehurst. A distracted driver in front of her braked too quickly to avoid hitting a truck turning left and Teresa swerved around the drivers to avoid a collision. She lost control of her car on the soft shoulder and hit a tree at 35-40 MPH. Unaware of her injuries, Teresa climbed out of the car and waited for help from first responders (who were on the scene within minutes). Teresa suffered a butterfly fracture of her proximal femur (the part closest to the hip joint) and a broken left thumb. Teresa’s neck was cut from the seatbelt and her knee, elbow and thumb required stitches. Teresa’s sternum was bruised by the airbag but thankfully there were no other injuries. Inches away from the bone fragments in her leg is the femoral artery which (if hit) would have likely killed her. In surgery the next day Teresa’s femur was repaired with a titanium rod and screws. The day after surgery Teresa stood for the first time. Two days later she walked a few steps. After 9 days in the hospital and 6 days in inpatient rehab learning to walk she was discharged on Thursday, April 12th.
(The car that saved my life, a few days after the accident at the junkyard)
At the beginning of this year I declared it “The Year of Teresa”. Yesterday I turned to my husband Justin, tears in my eyes and asked him if it was still possible this is the “Year of Teresa”. With my broken right leg propped up on pillows to ease the pain, a left arm in a cast, and hot tears burning my cheeks it just didn’t seem possible that it could be anywhere close to the Y.O.T. He reached over to grab the four chubby fingers sticking out of the top of my cast and told me it most definitely was. Because I was alive. Because I was finally home from the hospital. Because I got the rare opportunity to see how many people love me. Because we still got to lay in bed together every night and wake up together every morning. Because if I hadn’t made it out of the car accident alive my family would never be a whole family ever again.
Those are my broken moments. The moments when a deep ache sets in my upper femur, right at my hip bone and refuses to let me roll over, lift my leg, or walk to the kitchen. The moments when I want to throw my walker against the wall in frustration that something as small as a bread tie can be an obstacle to walk over/around. The moments when I can’t wash my own laundry, get dressed by myself, or carry a glass of water. The broken moments when I think “why did this happen to me?” or “how much longer can I take this?”. Hearing a doorbell ring and not being able to greet a friend stopping by to say hello. Desperately wanting to be independent, to drive my car to Starbucks, to go out with friends to dinner, or just to go grocery shopping for Justin and I. Asking for help putting on my workout tennis shoes for PT and regretting every time I grumbled about going for a walk or jog. Staring at my camera bag, still packed for a beautiful wedding I never got to photograph. These are my broken moments.
But hidden in the twisted steel and deflated airbag of these broken moments there are the most beautiful moments of unbroken-ness. The day after I got home I asked Justin to help me sort through all the gear he rescued from the crash site. Like my right femur, the new Paul C. Buff lightstands I was pumped about using for the first time, were snapped in half. But like the soul of me: the energetic, fun-loving, joke teller. The trusted friend. The quoter of random 90s TV episodes. The wife lucky enough to still be madly in love with a husband she can’t believe loves her more. The daughter who got the chance to spend a week as helpless as a kid in mom’s arms and under mom’s care. The persistent, fiercely determined woman who can run her own business at 28 (or struggle walking up four steps during Physical Therapy and go back an hour later asking to try it again). The wide-open lover of life . . . the soul of me . . . was like the lightbulbs I unpacked from my gear that second day home. Wrapped carefully in bubble wrap, tucked neatly away – completely unbroken.
So today it is a month after my accident and I’m just riding the waves of feeling very broken and very, very unbroken. Thank you needs to be said to so many of you and yet “thank you” doesn’t seem a strong enough phrase to express how completely grateful I am for my family who was with me 24hrs a day for 2 weeks in the hospital, for friends from all over the United States who sent cards and flowers and food, for you just taking the time to read this post. It is is the Year of Teresa after all and I am excited there are so many of you cheering me on to one heck of a comeback. Thanks to some aggressive PT and a lot of determination, I’ll be back to shooting sessions July 1st!
Read More:
10 Ways Breaking Your Leg is Awesome
The Re-Birth of My Friend Teresa Photography
From Broken Bones to Rolling Stone!
It was great to see you at CA the other day. I’m so glad you are doing better. Keep fighting and let me know if there’s ever anything I can do!
Words cannot express how incredible I think you are, Teresa! You inspire me beyond words and you are wise beyond your years! I am so very thankful that you are ok and recovering quickly because the world would not be the same without you and I would have be robbed of the kick buttocks friendship that you and I are going to have over the years!!
Can’t wait to dine with you over some Chipotle soon! Hehe! 
It is MOST definitely still the Year of Teresa!! And I am pretty sure everyone else will agree that the next few years are allowed to be The Year of Teresa also! I am so glad you are doing better and that you have such a huge support group to help you through your “broken” phase, but that’s all it is, just a phase! I have been wanting to make a trip to visit you and Caroline soon, so this just makes me want to come even more!! Lots and lots of love from Adel!!
My Friend Teresa, you know I love you more than all my lipstick. You are one of the funniest people I know, and yet, one of the most insightful and self reflective at the same time. This blog post reminds me of Anne Lamott’s writing, “Broken things have been on my mind as the year lurches to an end, because so much broke and broke down this year in my life, and in the lives of the people I love. Lives broke, hearts broke, health broke, minds broke.” from Salon.com, http://www.salon.com/1997/12/18/18lamo_2/ I read that 15 years ago, and it still resonates. Like you, Lamott finds the “unbroken” and reborn parts of life that happen after things break.
Just let me know if I can help you in any way. Big love to you, Sally.
I believe you have started the Teresa Book of Life, my dear. An inspiration to us and I send you so much love as you heal every day.
Teresa..I am so0o glad that you are doing so well and even more glad that you will be able to shoot our wedding on July 7th!! Can’t wait to meet in June!!!
Thanks for making me cry a bit. So glad you’re okay and still trucking. <3
That which does not kill us, makes us stronger. And this still is the year of you. Look what you’ve overcome and will be looking back on come New Year’s. Tremendous challenges, obstacles, and a chance to go out and find the YOT. It may not be evident now, but sometimes setbacks are put in place so that we truly will reap the rewards of accomplishments. You will do it! This is your year!!
[...] day of my car accident my life was separated in to two parts: before the car accident and after the car accident. As [...]
[...] I crashed. I broke my leg and got some new titanium parts. I learned to limp and then to walk. I was surrounded with love. I got home, did a lot of rehab, took a deep breath and got back to work. [...]
[...] a funny face”) approach to having pictures of myself changed completely when I had a serious car accident last year. In the flash of a second (or a flash of the text message the young woman was reading) my entire [...]
I do not know you Teresa, but just read this article and I want to say, you are not just an artist behind a camera, but you paint beautiful pictures in words. Thanks for sharing from your heart.
[...] “make a funny face”) approach to having pictures of myself changed completely when I had a serious car accident last year (and started over). In the flash of a second (or a flash of the text message the young woman was [...]
[...] “make a funny face”) approach to having pictures of myself changed completely when I had a serious car accident last year (and started over). In the flash of a second (or a flash of the text message the young woman was [...]
I’m not sure if I know how to do this as I’ve never done anything like it, but I am sooo inspired by you and your posts that I have to try.!!!!!
How are you doing NOW? I think everyone would like to know.!!!
Your new admirer, constance
[...] “make a funny face”) approach to having pictures of myself changed completely when I had a serious car accident last year (and started over). In the flash of a second (or a flash of the text message the young woman was [...]
Thank you for this post. You are a beautiful and strong person. Congratulations on your months of strength, appreciation, happiness, and love.
My daughter posted your article about being in pictures even when you don’t feel pretty, and I was quite moved…then I clicked over to this post, and I think there’s an even greater reason she sent you my way…
On September 28, my husband and I were in Ashvelle, North Carolina, on our way to the rehearsal dinner for friends getting married the next day…we were having a fun and silly day, enjoying each other, excited about our little vacation and the gas mileage we were getting on our 6 day old car. Then I noticed that there was a car driving straight at us….no….we were driving at THEM! I turned to my husband, who was slumped over the wheel….and tried to wake him, begging him to not be dead, somehow managing to grab the steering wheel and avoid hitting the other car. That’s when his defibrillating pacemaker went off, sending a shock through his body, which caused him to floor the gas….the last I saw, we were traveling 95 mph and heading straight for a concrete ditch. We hit the ditch, flipped the car, and when we stopped moving, I was surrounded by white airbags and couldn’t see anything, but I heard my dear husband calling my name, and I relaxed, I knew he was alive and maybe ok. Then I realized that my neck hurt…which terrified me for a moment…but then I wiggled my toes and knew I would be ok. I spent a week in the hospital with a broken neck, a compression fracture of my back, a broken sternum and 3broken ribs, then went to inpatient rehab for three weeks, and when I read your account of your accident, it took my breath away…I felt so cared for, and loved, and successful while I was in rehab, I suppose because every little step was such a major accomplishment. But once home, I felt so fortunate to be alive, to have my husband and wonderful daughters and grandbabies moving heaven and earth to help me…but…after a while, nobody was there to cheer for every new step, every little gain in “range of motion” in my neck, and being dependent on friends and family to drive me anywhere is getting really old! Then my husband ended up back in the hospital, now using a device that is almost like an artificial heart…and tonight, he is back in the hospital with a blood clot somewhere within the device, and we are waiting to know if the meds will dissolve it, or if he will need another surgery to replace the device. Needless to say, perhaps, but it’s been a pretty shi**y couple of months, and I admit, The holidays brought me more tears than laughter. But then I decided that I was not cut out for the role of invalid or victim, and we decided that as awful as 2012 had been, 2013 was going to be a MUCH better year….there is a reason we are still here, and although I don’t know what reason(s) that is, I am obligated to the universe to live my life in such a way that even if I never do figure it out, the time I’ve been given back will be used wisely and will have a positive impact on those who meet/know/love me. (I know, I’m a bit long winded-sorry!)
I feel like I had to write to you to tell you that by sharing your story, you have been that positive influence (my friend calls it being an angel) for me…reading your story was confirmation that I can’t get bogged down in the sadness of what is happening with us, that focusing on that does no one any good…and that I do still have work to do…whatever that is!….so thank you for sharing, inspiring, and giving me the kick in the butt to remind me of that. I hope you are continuing to heal, and that you are able to be taking photographs and running your business, and of course, spending time with your loving and very lucky family!
Most Sincerely,
Julie Horn, Akron, Ohio
Sent you an email
I, too, stumbled upon this post from the photography article. I read this last night but it brought back some really raw feelings. Too raw to respond yesterday.
In 2010, I was in a serious car accident with my family. A man was busy texting his brother and didn’t notice that he had crossed the center line on the highway when he hit us head on. We were both traveling at highway speeds and we are all very lucky to be alive. My husband broke his back quite badly, and hurt his arm and shoulder when the airbag pushed him through the drivers window. My 2 year old daughter was in the back seat and had multiple cuts and bruises. When the windshield exploded, a piece of glass went into her ear and punctured her ear drum. She was later diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety. I was 18 weeks pregnant at the time and broke my leg, my ribs on the left side, a lower pack/pelvis injury, broke my neck, have a traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and now a chronic severe depressive disorder and a chronic severe anxiety disorder. I had a placental tear, an abruption, and a subchorionic hemotoma. My son and I both fought for his life, and although he was only given a 2% chance of survival, he survived.
I spend most days very thankful that my family has survived and for the many, many positive changes that have come as a result of the accident. We have inspired many people to live their life to the fullest every day, because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Some days are harder though. I am angry that this has happened to us. I miss my career that I worked so hard for. I am sad that my little guy is going to have an uphill battle for the rest of his life. I miss the family that we used to be.
One thing I learned was that despite everything that was broken, our love for each other, our family, and our many many friends will never be broken. If anything, it was made stronger. And for that, I am very thankful.
Your “So You’re Feeling too Fat to Be Photograped” post led me to this post, and it must have been meant to be. Yesterday, my husband Steve went in for a routine stress test, and had a shopping trip planned to Target afterward. I am a nurse though, and knew that the slow heart beat he was experiencing would require a pacemaker. Twenty-four hours and one dual chamber pacemaker later, I sit here in the hospital reading your posts and nodding my head in agreement. Thankful for the fact that this was something that could be “fixed”, and thinking about my oldest daughter fussing about how “fat” she was when my children were here last night while their dad had surgery. You are right, when I look at my children, I see beautiful adults that I had a part in creating. Strong people I love with all my heart, and am so proud of. And I look at Steve and am thankful that after 42 years of marriage, we have more to look forward to.
Thank you for your touching, honest, and wonderful posts. I wish you all the luck in the world with your career and many more happy, healthy years with your family.