TRINITY, Fla. — Melissa Parish was just a mile and a half from home when she was in a crash she calls catastrophic.
“Four broken ribs, punctured lung, the ribs were splayed apart like this and pushed out to the side," she said.
Accident scenes like this one are nothing new for Melissa and Daniel, her husband of 23 years.
They both volunteer for the Pasco Sheriff’s Office Citizens Service Unit.
“Ninety-five percent of what we do is working crashes. So yeah, we’ve seen the worst of the worst here," she said.
But then it finally happened to her.
Melissa said she thought she wasn’t going to make it. But after almost 50 days in the hospital and rehab, she finally went home.
She credits the outpouring of support she received as the reason she pulled through — from the sheriff’s office, where they volunteer, and the people of Pasco County, including her neighbors in Trinity.
“I got over 3,000 cards alone from people I don’t even know. People showed up at the hospital. People showed up at the rehab center bringing cards and flowers saying they are just praying for me," Melissa said.
“So many messages from people that said we don’t know you guys, but we know the story or something similar has happened to us. Our prayers are out there for you," Daniel said.
Melissa just recently started to walk again on her own.
A big step for sure.
When she’s ready, she plans to return to volunteering on the roads, helping others deal with crashes like the one that almost killed her.
“I can’t wait to get back out there," Melissa said.
