Photo: Gina Arnold / people.com
A woman from Macomb, Michigan, is happy she was wearing her seatbelt in October 2017, when she was involved in a grave accident that saw her vehicle flip several times. It saved her life, but it also sliced right through her abdomen like a knife goes through butter.
22-year-old Gina Arnold is just now starting to lead a life close to what she would call normal. For the past 2 years, she’s been in tremendous pain: the seatbelt left her with no abdominal wall and the crash herself cause serious injuries. So, after re-learning how to walk, 21 surgical interventions and changing everything about her lifestyle, she underwent another, rare surgery and is able to live without constant medical care.
Arnold tells People magazine that doctors have placed a mesh that acts as her abdominal wall in the 8-hour surgery last December. There is no backup plan for what to do if the mesh tears, so she has be very cautious at all times: she can lift more than 15lbs, can’t stand for longer periods and has to be mindful of what and how much she eats.
She’d lived in pain since the crash and until the doctors put in the mesh, so she expects the pain to return if the mesh tears. But Arnold is optimistic: she has gone back to school and hopes to become a sports psychologist, having been an athlete herself prior to the accident.
Arnold is even back at the wheel, despite the still-vivid memory of the crash. She still swears by the seatbelt (as she should), knowing that it was the only thing that saved her life. It maimed her, too, but she believes that this was just a “freak accident.”
“I was grateful that it saved my life, but it was hard to wrap my head around all the injuries the seat belt caused,” Arnold says for the publication. “I just call it a freak accident. I can’t believe the seatbelt did that to me.”
“I wear it all the time. For a while I put a pillow in between the seatbelt and my stomach because the seatbelt just gave me a weird feeling. It made me anxious,” Arnold continues. “It took a lot to be able to not use the pillows anymore, and get used to the seatbelt. But I do believe that without it, I wouldn’t be here today. So despite all my injuries – yeah, it’s a freak accident – but I can’t take away the fact that it did save my life and I am here today to tell my story.”
Arnold tells People magazine that doctors have placed a mesh that acts as her abdominal wall in the 8-hour surgery last December. There is no backup plan for what to do if the mesh tears, so she has be very cautious at all times: she can lift more than 15lbs, can’t stand for longer periods and has to be mindful of what and how much she eats.
She’d lived in pain since the crash and until the doctors put in the mesh, so she expects the pain to return if the mesh tears. But Arnold is optimistic: she has gone back to school and hopes to become a sports psychologist, having been an athlete herself prior to the accident.
Arnold is even back at the wheel, despite the still-vivid memory of the crash. She still swears by the seatbelt (as she should), knowing that it was the only thing that saved her life. It maimed her, too, but she believes that this was just a “freak accident.”
“I was grateful that it saved my life, but it was hard to wrap my head around all the injuries the seat belt caused,” Arnold says for the publication. “I just call it a freak accident. I can’t believe the seatbelt did that to me.”
“I wear it all the time. For a while I put a pillow in between the seatbelt and my stomach because the seatbelt just gave me a weird feeling. It made me anxious,” Arnold continues. “It took a lot to be able to not use the pillows anymore, and get used to the seatbelt. But I do believe that without it, I wouldn’t be here today. So despite all my injuries – yeah, it’s a freak accident – but I can’t take away the fact that it did save my life and I am here today to tell my story.”
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