Motorcycle accident victim returns to Forbes Hospital to thank her treatment team
The hugs were abundant as Elizabeth Lindsay returned to Forbes Hospital. The feelings were too.
"I said that my emotions are in every direction," Lindsay said. "Happy, sad, frustrated, mad, confused, excitable…"
It was an emotional day for some members of the hospital's trauma team. That was okay.
"Unlike a lot of under trauma surgeons – I got a little teary eyed…" Dr. Caroline Couch, trauma surgeon at Forbes Hospital, said. "It's just really, really impressive to see."
It's impressive, because Elizabeth was in the fight of her life just months ago. A motorcycle crash last August left her severely injured.
"There are a lot of fuzzy things," Lindsay said.
"Coming here the first night after that happened was the worst nightmare of my life," John Lindsay, Elizabeth's father, said.
She spent nearly three months here at Forbes.
"I never got to see her awake," Dr. Couch said. "She was still very much in that daze from her head injury."
That's why for Dr. Couch and her colleagues, it means the world. They do wonder what happens to their patients when they leave.
"We don't always get to see the end result of the person that we saw in the beginning," Dr. Couch said.
Elizabeth still has some stages to her recovery. She still has some bruises.
Otherwise? You wouldn't really know. She's already back to karate.
"She's a miracle – and what they did here is a miracle," John Lindsay said.
"It's still a point of reflection for me," Elizabeth said. "To say, well, ok – I was this bad… and now I'm here – and this is where I'm going."
With that reflection comes a lot of gratitude.
"It doesn't cost anything to say thank you – but it means a whole hell of a lot," Elizabeth said.
