TAMPA, Fla. -- It has been seven years since a woman nearly lost her life after a drunk driver slammed into her vehicle in Tampa.
Carly Morgan was driving near North Boulevard and Lake Magdalene Boulevard in Tampa. She was headed home from work in November of 2012 when a drunk driver slammed into her Volkswagen Jetta.
On Tuesday evening, she asked everyone who helped save her to meet at the Hillsborough County Public Safety Operations Complex.
All in an effort to give thanks.
"What they did mattered and in the end, I got to rebuild a life and it's because of everybody that sat in that room," said Carly Morgan.
Morgan underwent 50 surgeries and will need more in the future. She goes to physical therapy once a week.
She is grateful for the 911 dispatcher who took the first call so help could arrive. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue had to use tools to cut her out of her vehicle.
"It tells me the type of person Carly is... the fact that with everything she has endured, she found time to come back and round up all the first responders and to actually thank us for the job that we did that day," said Robert Collins, Special Operations Chief for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
She is also grateful to the Bayflite crew who took her by helicopter to a local hospital.
"Very rarely do we ever get to see anything after the fact. We always see the horrific accident and to see something like this and a good outcome is truly fantastic," said Dean Chester, a flight medic with Bayflite.
Morgan also invited her physical therapists and her new friends at Mothers Against Drunk Driving to attend.
She said the driver who hit her was sentenced to five years in prison. He has been released.
"Just calling a friend, always been an option, calling a cab, that has always been an option," said Morgan.
"It is easy to avoid being responsible for something this terrible for somebody. It was one choice," said Morgan.
She encourages people to never drink and drive. She urges people to call a cab or a friend for a safe ride home.
