On September 22, 1983 I was in a motorcycle accident. This event was really a game-changer in my life. I was 19 at the time and on my way from a softball game to an EMT class at the hospital where I was working at the time. I was riding my motorcycle, feeling care free, when a man coming in the opposite direction didn’t see me and made a left turn in front of me. I hit him broadside and landed on his windshield face first. The result was that many of my facial bones were crushed, pretty much from my eyes down, and all of my front teeth along with a big chunk of my mandible, were knocked out. I was transported by ambulance to the hospital where my coworkers did not recognize me and when one of them found out my identity I heard them say’ “Oh my God, that’s Maureen!” When Brother Kieran came in to give me last rights I was pretty sure they were overdoing it but I was still alarmed and was having a hard time breathing due to all the blood that was flowing...
Because there was no trauma unit at the time in Staten Island, I was stabilized and transported to Kings County Hospital and Trauma Center in Brooklyn where I received excellent care. I remained there for about a week before being transferred to Brookdale Hospital for the first of many surgeries. People always ask me what was the first thing I thought when I saw myself. Since the staff had removed all the mirrors from the ward room I was in so I would not see myself and I really couldn’t get up, I didn’t really know how bad I looked. I finally wandered down a hall with my I.V pole in tow and found a little bathroom with a small piece of a cracked mirror in it and when I looked at it I actually looked behind me to see if there was someone else standing back there because my head looked like a bowling ball and the face in the mirror was so startling.... When I peered into my mouth and realized that I basically had no bone where where my jaw and teeth once had been, my first thought was “ Wow, I wonder how they’re going to fix that .”
That makes me smile to think of now... that my certainty was so great and in tact, that I knew it could be fixed. I love that.
It was a long journey to recovery and I had an amazing team of oral surgeons, followed by a plastic surgeon, more oral surgery and many years of dental reconstruction. And though I don’t think about the accident much these days I have been appreciating how much that event influenced who I am today. And when we can navigate these big events with Grace and optimism even when some despondency sets in, we are deeper, richer and have more kindness and compassion to give to others.
I am not a person who believes that “everything happens for a reason.” In fact, I hate when people say that to me or anyone else. It seems insensitive and silly to say to people who are going though a trauma or a disease or any devastating event and it is not comforting. Anyway, I diverge... I do think that amazing insight, courage and compassion can grow out of these challenging times. It has worked that way for me.
I am grateful for the recovery process that is innate, the simple healing system that moves in us as a matter of course as human beings. But without the assistance of skilled surgeons and medical personnel, the support of my family and people who loved me and cared for me, I would be in a different place right now. I am grateful that I have had such a profound recovery and I am grateful for all of the people who helped me through it with their humor, support, skill, or just their simple presence. I’m glad my face turned out as well as it did, and frankly, I like my new nose better than the old one ;).
After the surgeries and dental reconstruction were over I still had a lot of neck and jaw pain all the time, even after massage school. Because of that I sought out lots of different therapies which have shaped who I am as a person, living in a body, and as a practitioner of massage and kinesiology. My work was deeply influenced by my mentor, Dr. Hynes, whose profound skill as a chiropractor and kinesiologist eliminated 7 years of neck pain in 3 sessions. He then taught me the work which I am still in love with today.
I have a deep appreciation of more nuanced therapies, such as acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, good nutrition and Mindful living. I love yoga and meditation and share these ways of living with my clients.
I look back on the 3 1/2 years following the accident and recall that I sometimes looked to other people like a bit of a monster. My face occasionally scared little kids and evoked a look of pity from people in the bank or at a restaurant. Fortunately my sister Paula was around at the time and would drive me places where we could eat blenderized soup, oatmeal or mushy food that could squeeze through my wired jaw. I’m glad I did not lock myself away for months at a time. I just went out into the world, scars, bandages and all. I grew a lot inwardly. I felt the strength of my own Spirit.
Today I savor all healing which has occurred in me and that is still occurring. My ability to help others has been greatly enhanced because of my own experiences. I’m grateful for God’s Grace everyday and for the many, many people who have touched my life, my body, my Spirit and for those I have touched in some beautiful way. September 22,1983 was a big, life changing day and today, September 22, 2013, I celebrate the gifts that grew out of that experience and I’m just glad I’m here ! 
