Student fights for life to do CXCs

Michaelia Moore survives crash three weeks before exams

Sheldon Williams, Gleaner Writer

Seven years ago, Michaelia Moore asked God to spare her life, moments after she was involved in a car crash that left her with a bloody face and cracked skull.

"I didn't feel my head hit against anything. My body just shifted. Immediately, I felt something warm running down my face, into my mouth. I looked down and there was blood all over my uniform. I panicked, but didn't scream. When I opened the door and stumbled out of the car I realised it had run into a utility pole," Moore said.

It was May 3, 2007. Moore was a passenger in the car, along with her schoolmates, when a trailer crashed into it. "I was on the way home from school with my friends. It was four of us in total ... We drove in the far right lane of Spanish Town Road, heading to Spanish Town. The vehicle I was in was not speeding. There was a trailer about 10 metres ahead of us, in the far left lane. I saw the trailer make a rather dirty swerve across the road, in a bid to get to the side that went in the opposite direction. I don't remember seeing the indicator on. All I saw was the trailer coming towards us and I heard the sound of the impact. I don't remember where on Spanish Town Road it happened, but it was close to the end leading to Ferry," Moore said.

"I thought I was going to pass out and eventually die. I was like 'Please God ... no, I have my CXCs in three weeks'," she recounted. It turned out to be even more serious than the then schoolgirl initially thought. "I thought I just had a cut that wouldn't stop bleeding, but later that evening the doctor told me it was a skull fracture, as well as minor cuts and bruises," she said.

HOLDING ON FOR LIFE

Shortly after the impact, Moore said, they were all transported to the Kingston Public Hospital by police officers, who responded quickly. "On the way I held my friend's hand. She wasn't bleeding or anything, but nonetheless I held her hand, closed my eyes and faintly uttered 'Please God ...' One of the officers kept telling me to take it easy and lay back," Moore said. At the hospital, she said, "I don't remember all that happened when I got there but a nurse who shaved a section of my head, those nine injections (five to my head, one to my rear and three in places I don't remember) and the stitches to my head were the highlight of my evening."

Moore said she had to tolerate constant back and neck pains following the crash and was worried about scarring. "I wore a bandage for a short while when I went back to school. One evening, I was heading home and out of nowhere this guy's stupidity prompted him to poke fun at me and, while laughing, he asked, 'A who chop yuh inna yuh head?' I stopped, took a deep breath instead of saying the first thing that came to my mind, shook my head and walked off," Moore said.

The scar had its effect. "When the stitches were taken out I cut my hair to make a bang and I wore my hair in a ponytail with the bang, every day for a very long time. After a while, I just told myself to relax, the scar is not that noticeable - if people wanted to stare, they would. I was just appreciative of the fact that my life was spared and that I was able to sit my exams - not without some discomfort, of course," Moore said.

At first, she feared returning to the scene of the crash. "I haven't revisited, as in gone to stand there and look. Initially, no one could get me to travel that route. I used to get stiff in the neck whenever I was close to Spanish Town Road, and at one point I shouted, 'No, I don't want to drive there!' at someone who was persistent about taking that route to avoid traffic. The first time I travelled along that route was two years after the accident, but I handled it better than I expected. I was quite calm, just took deep breaths and refused to visualise the day of the accident," Moore said. "I have flashbacks, but they're rare."