Two weeks before Melissa's accident, I was dusting the furniture when suddenly a little voice said " You're going to get a phone call that Melissa has been hit by a truck."

I was furious, what kind of mother was I, allowing terrible thoughts like that into my head? I ignored it......it came back one more time.....

On December 12, 1997, my husband and I told Melissa (13 yrs old) that she has got to go and collect from her paper route....this was an on going battle because she was quitting and this would be her final run.

It was a Friday evening around 5:15 PM when she left the house. We did not have any snow yet, so she rode her bike.

At 5:40 pm....the telephone rang....my niece answered the phone, a man was asking her strange questions so she handed the phone to me.

He asked me if we had a daughter wearing a red coat and riding a bike.....I answered yes..I could not control the panic in my voice...he said that she had been hit by a truck and that I had to calm down so that he could give me directions to where she was.... I calmed a little and got the directions...she was 3 blocks away. My husband and I and our son jumped into the car and went to the scene. Melissa was laying on the road and the paramedics had just arrived. She kept on saying that her head hurts.

She was placed into the ambulance and I was allowed to go with her to the Hospital, another 3 blocks away. At the time she was able to answer the paramedics questions, in fact better than I could. My husband and son arrived at the hospital with in minutes of our arrival. I was told to go to register my daughter while they brought her to the pediatrics emergency room.

When I registered her, they handed me the ambulance bill...(Sick)

As soon as she was placed in the room she began vomiting, we had to keep tilting her on her side because of the back board and neck brace. The doctor kept asking us what she had for lunch. What? My husband lost his patience and yelled at the doctor that lunch had nothing to do with it...she was just hit by a truck....

They decided to do some xrays....when they took her, I went to the washroom only to find that they had to abort the x-rays and rush her to resuscitation.

After I located her once again....she was becoming cationic, not responding to them anymore. I talked very quietly to her because she had indicated that her brain was hurting so much earlier. She responded by looking at me when I spoke to her.

The Doctors decided to do a CAT scan, but it would take some time because they had to open up the room. Soon they brought her to the Diagnostic area of the hospital and we followed to wait there for her to come out.

Suddenly, while we were waiting, a code blue was announced over the speakers and doctors and nurses all went running by us to where Melissa was. After what felt like eons, they came out.

The head doctor said that Melissa had just suffered a Grand Mal seizure and that they could not do the CAT scan and we were to meet them back in resuscitation.

My son and I followed, but my husband stayed behind for a few minutes to gather himself. He would meet us in a couple of minutes.

When we got there, the doors were closed, so we stood outside. The police officer from the scene of the accident approached me. He said that it was bad enough that Melissa was hit, but that the person who hit her was driving with a suspended license and had run the stop sign. He was a repeat offender.

We could here Melissa screaming and swearing through the closed doors. My husband had rejoined us and we thought that we should contact our parents and tell them what had happened. At this point, we did not know if things would get worse.

When I got back from making my calls, Melissa was still screaming. I went inside, they had her hands and feet tied to the stretcher. They asked me if she often behaved like this? (Say what?)

They told me that they had to transfer her to Sick Kids Hospital, However, if she did not calm down they would have to intubate her.

I talked very calmly into her ear until she calmed down. They prepared her to go back into the ambulance, I could not go with her this time, because the doctor and nurse were going too.

My husband and I and our son left for Sick Kids to meet them there. They passed us on the way but we arrived within minutes. They were ready for her when she arrived. They did x-rays and then a CAT scan. They showed me the CAT scan, she had a fracture at the back of her skull and contusions to the frontal lobe. By midnight she was admitted, and placed in Neurology critical care room. The back board and neck brace were finally removed.

On Saturday afternoon, Melissa begins to know who I am but complains constantly that her brain hurts. She kept vomiting right through until Sunday morning. On Tuesday she was released to come home.

Melissa, has short term memory loss and is on anti seizure medication. It is expected that she will have a pretty good recovery, but just being on this road is still frustrating, disheartening and painful.

I would like to thank everyone for welcoming us into their lives. I believe that sharing stories is a big part of the healing process.

Email Mona, Melissa's Mom