Eileen Carman

On July 5, 2020 at 8:30 AM I was driving South on the I-5 near Nobel Drive in San Diego. I was in the second lane from the shoulder and traveling at about 70MPH.

Suddenly, I was rear ended by a 20 year old drunk driver and then this person sideswiped my car as she was going around me to flee the accident. As a result of this impact and the sideswiping my car moved to the shoulder and did a double roll over causing injury to my brain as well as fracturing my upper right arm, my right elbow and my left occipital lobe and causing the roots on one of my molars to fracture requiring an implant.

I was unconscious and not breathing when the guardian angel pulled me from my car 30 seconds prior to the ambulance arriving. I was taken to the emergency room at Scripps Prebys Institute and then was placed into Scripps Memorial Hospital. I received surgery and my upper arm now has a plate and 6 screws to hold it together.

I received both Physical and Occupational Therapy while hospitalized, but have absolutely no memory of this happening. I have also after being released from my 2 weeks of inpatient care at a nursing facility spent time having Speech and Language Therapy which did help me in that area.

My resultant injuries which I still am forced to endure are several. The Aphasia that causes me to not recall certain words and to not recall a person’s name though I have known them for a prolonged period of even 30 years. The other really bothersome resultant from this accident is the left arm and hand tremor due to the damage to my basal ganglia.

Many who do not know me well have expressed that they feel I have recuperated very well. Though I have met and even read about some who are unable to use an arm or a hand, or walk, or they are unable to speak from the damage that occurred to them when they were involved in a really bad accident. When my results are measured against theirs, I must say that I was blessed to not have the same results as they had.