Elizabeth Ibarra
“I truly appreciate the help from everyone, Thank you all for making it possible for me to work on reaching my goal!.”
My name is Elizabeth Ibarra and on February 12, 2011, I suffered a T5/T8 spinal cord injury in a motor vehicle accident.
I was in a motor vehicle against a pedestrian accident. Resulting in an incomplete spinal cord injury and a knee disarticulation amputation. We had gotten a flat tire driving on the freeway and we pulled aside to the shoulder to get help. While changing the tire a man driving a pick-up truck was having a diabetic attack and lost control, crashing into the car of the person that was helping us change the tire and which I was also standing beside. The car dropped me and ran over my legs with the front tires and the back tires ended partially on my hip resulting in a pelvis fracture. I was rushed to the hospital, when my parents arrived they were told they didn’t know if I was going to make it because I had lost a lot of blood and all the trauma. Due to all the damage on my legs I had to have wound care cleanings done every other day and had an artery transplant from one leg to the other. My parents were told if the pulse on my leg was good after 3 days from the procedure they would be able to save both legs. But because of hospital negligence the doctors skipped my leg cleanings for 5 days or more, which they were doing every other day. Due to the them skipping the cleanings of my legs one of my legs got infected, my parents were told it was either my leg or my life. Since I was in the hospital I had severe back pain and had to be taking pain medication to help with that. A year after my accident I had an MRI done discovering I had fluid compressing against my spinal cord and had surgery for that.
I’ve heard of individuals that have improved or have been able to attain some of their goals they have set for themselves with going to The Perfect Step. The Perfect Step is more focused on spinal cord rehabilitation than physical therapy. Knowing that this facility works with trying to reactivate the nerves/muscles that have been damaged gives me hope in attaining my goals. With help from Be Perfect I will be able to attend The Perfect Step more frequently as I would like and attain my goal.
It has re-instilled confidence in my ability to walk again. Through The Perfect Step i have learned exercises that will be helpful to regain the strength that i need to accomplish my goals.
My goal I would like to attain is to walk without the need of any assistance. I would like to be independent and for my life to be more of what it was and of how I visualized it would’ve been before this traumatic life-changing event. I am looking into returning to school and pursuing a career in the medical field.
I truly appreciate the help from everyone, Thank you all for making it possible for me to work on reaching my goal!
