Focusing on Hope: Melissa
Sep 27, 2021
Our 10 year celebration is still going, and this month we’d like to celebrate Melissa Ann. Malerie has been working with Melissa for 10 years, and had this to say about her: “Melissa is the text book example of taking a bad situation and turning into a positive light. She’s a spitfire of energy and a woman on a mission.”
Understandably, Melissa began to question her new life. Could she live the rest of her life as a quadriplegic, and did she even want to? Frustrated by her situation, she asked her occupational therapist, “Why can’t it be the people that don’t enjoy using their bodies that much be the ones that end up paralyzed?” The OT, most likely having heard similar sentiments before, smirked and told her, “Life will only be over if you allow it.
It was at this point that Melissa knew she had some decisions to make and leaned on her faith to find a way to move forward. After three years of traditional therapy, CORE came into her life and she was ready to start on a recovery path more suited to her needs.
“My time at CORE started out physical, but my did that evolve quickly,” says Melissa. She noted that even in a time of hardship she was able to find comfort and hope, and become stronger both physically and emotionally. She says she saw the ominous light at the end of the tunnel take on a more positive shape.
“Thirteen years into the injury and I think I have lived more life than I would have if this didn’t happen. I’m not saying it has been easy, but I will tell you first hand, it is possible.” Melissa has been making the most of her time post-injury, working to get her master’s degree in non-profit management, and spends a lot of time speaking publicly on alcohol awareness. She even wrote and released a book (Hope, Love, and Me: My Journey of Choices and Second Chances) in 2018, which details her journey to live again after such a life-altering event.
