North Texas Master NaturalistBeating the Odds with Mother Nature
After an injury with a 2% survival rate, Dallas’ trails helped me heal
by Amy Martin
Dallas Morning News, Nov 27, 2021
A brilliant spring day starts with a guided tour of flowering dogwoods at Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center. Even in the dim, overcast light, the white bracts of the blossoms pop. Lightning cracks, the sky pours rain, and our hiking group slides back down the path.
After the rain passes, I jump in my Subaru Outback for an afternoon tour of Ellis County bluebonnets. Exiting onto an interstate ramp, I realize it’s the wrong one and flinch. The slight tug on the steering wheel sends me spinning on slick pavement.
Slam! The car peels back the guardrail, stopping the vehicle with one rear wheel suspended over the edge. The impact bashes my head into the side window, and it gyrates like a bobble doll. Excruciating pain sears down my spine and blots my consciousness.
X-rays reveal the verdict: My second vertebra is in pieces. Only 2% who incur this injury survive intact. Half die right away; the rest incur paralysis. Its appellation: hangman’s fracture. I am a walking act of grace.
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