Jessica Nelson was only 16 years old when she got into a car accident on July 8, 2014. She was the only person driving on the gravel road – but then her car went into a ditch and flipped, anywhere between five and seven times.
When her car finally stopped, it had landed on the driver’s side window. Nelson’s legs were sticking out the window.
The teen was airlifted to largest hospital close by where doctors assessed the extent of her injuries: “a compound fracture in her right tibia, broken fibula, torn ligaments, deep cuts that required stitches all over her body, burns across her waist and arms, tendons severed in half, holes in her lungs, hematoma in her eyes, broken bone in her face and a bad concussion.”
The worst news came in the next breath. Because of the extensive nature of Nelson’s injuries, she had developed a severe infection in her leg and would likely have to have the limb amputated. She would never be able to play competitive sports again.
But Nelson refused to accept her fate. Her family brought her to another hospital in Rochester, New York, where doctors thought to remove three and a half inches of the infected bone, and then fit her with a Taylor Spatial Frame that would help re-lengthen the bone.
Even then, “The doctor told me that I would never play competitive sports again,” Nelson said. She was a competitive basketball and volleyball player.
Nelson decided to go through with the procedure anyway and underwent her tenth surgery to have the device fitted on her leg.
“I gradually felt every screw, every pin and every movement right to the bone,” Nelson remembered of the experience. But it wasn’t just adjusting to the new sensation. It was also learning to weather the pain as she turn the device three times a day to help lengthen her bone.
"There were nights where the pain was so bad, I was throwing up on the bathroom floor," Nelson recalled. "I would tell my mom to just take the apparatus off because it was so horrible."
After 100 long days, Nelson was finally able to stop turning the device and let her leg heal. Eight months later, the device was removed and Nelson focused her attention on regaining strength in her leg by transitioning from her wheelchair to crutches, and then to walking on her own two feet again.
The best news came in February and March 2016.
Nelson’s recovery had gone better than her doctors had anticipated, and she was cleared to play club sports again. In March, Nelson had to return under the knife to have a rod attached to her leg, effectively making it “unbreakable,” but the recovery for this procedure was simple.
Now, Nelson is a starting member of her community college’s volleyball team. She now says, "I have a new perspective on life. I may not be the athlete I was physically, but mentally I'm a way better athlete."
