ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A woman who survived a devastating motorcycle crash reunited with the first responders who helped save her life.
April 22, 2023 was the day Shelly Graham's life changed in an instant.
Watch full report from Mary O'Connell
“As soon as I went to make that left turn, that was the last thing I remember,” said Graham.
A devastating motorcycle crash left Graham in a month-long coma.
"I woke up in the hospital,” said Graham. “I was told that I had been in a motorcycle accident and that I had lost my leg and became an above-the-knee amputee."
Then came the extensive recovery and rehab to rebuild her life, working her way out of a wheelchair, through crutches, to now walking around.
“After about 20 hours of surgery, I had coded twice,” said Graham. “My back is rebuilt with rods. My femur is rebuilt with plates. I had fractured my hip.”
The accident was over two years ago. Graham documented her recovery on social media.
“I was resuscitated in my accident to live again, and I'm meant to still be here, and it meant for a second chance at living,” she said.
Now more than 850 days later, Graham reunited with the first responders who helped save her life, from the crews at St. Pete Fire Rescue to Sunstar paramedics and the medical team from Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital.
“It was overwhelming, but in a good way, to see, to put a face to the people that I've always called first responders,” said Graham.
James King was one of the first responders on scene.
"Gratifying to see her smiling, walking,” said King, a firefighter-paramedic with St. Pete Fire Rescue. “That's what you do the job for."
Graham said she still rides a motorcycle, while giving thanks to the people who helped make a second chance possible.
“I go to concerts. I go to the park, I travel, and it's possible to do,” said Graham. “It's possible to come back from whatever you're coming back from."
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