“Will I ever wake up?” - Head On Collision & A 2 Month Coma

On March 13th, 2015 ... Friday the 13th my life nearly ended - although I didn’t come to this realization until much later. I had never really had much experience of being sick or severely injured but I quickly learned the in and outs of being a hospital patient. After a few months in an induced coma, 106 blood transfusions, hundreds of hours of orthopaedic and reconstructive surgery, a bowel reconstruction, colostomy and eventually a reverse colostomy I was started the rehabilitation process. I was transferred from the ICU, to the trauma unit and eventually to the Rehab Centre.

In the 3 years since the accident, my life has changed dramatically. I can't play the sports I used to or return to my old job but I have an incredibly full life and in a lot of ways, my life has improved. I more confident and I don’t worry about little troubles like I used to. Of course, I would have never imagined I would find myself in this situation but I have learned through the challenges I have faced that no matter how slow the journey is, recovery is possible and beyond that, life can still be beautiful...it will just look a little different than what you pictured.

- Ashley