Two years after a collision with a moose left her paralyzed from the chest down, Kiesha Mastrodimos has reconnected with the people who helped her survive. On November 26th, 2013, then 17 year old Mastrodimos was driving back from a babysitting job with her friend Brittany Funk, when the moose was hit and landed on top of her vehicle. Truck driver Dan Passey was one of the first to come across the accident.
“He came, put blankets on us, talked us through it, everything until the police came,” says Mastrodimus. “Before he had stopped, while Brittany was on the phone, I was just staring into the sky saying,’I’m not going to die today, I’m not going to die today.’ I just told myself that over and over again.”
Mastrodimos reached out on Facebook earlier this week and thanks to hundreds of people sharing her post, she and Dan Passey were connected. They got together for pizza and shared stories of their experience that night.
“He had parts of the story that I never had, so he put lots of it together for me. I had always wondered what he thought; did he think I died? Did he think what was I doing right now in this life? So I was very excited to tell him that.”
While the accident left Mastrodimos as an incomplete quadriplegic, she has recently been able to stand up on her own, drives using a retrofitted van and has a weekend job at Costco. She hopes to attend school for journalism next fall and become a public speaker.
Mastrodimos’ next big goal is to meet Ellen and she’s hoping to do that with the help of social media again. She has a following on her Youtube channel and Facebook group Kiesha’s Road to Recovery that she says has been instrumental in supporting her since her accident.