Hit by a Car

2 years ago from this very day, I was hit by a car and thrown through Daffy's store window. A man was push starting his car with his girlfriend in the driver's seat. The 22 year old woman did not know how to drive stick and did not have a driver's license. When the car started, she freaked out, put the car in gear and slammed on the gas. I faintly remember what happened. There was a loud noise and the next thing I knew was that I was on the hood of a car, I blacked out again, and then I was on the floor of Daffy's storefront window. I was in and out of consciousness the entire time, in the ambulance, being carted to the ER room and when the doctors stood around me saying, "This is a miracle" "She shouldn't have survived" "There's no internal bleeding?"

It was completely traumatic. Somehow, I survived without suffering any internal bleeding or loosing a limb. I ended up with a sprained ankle, partially torn ACL, broken fibula, torn shoulder, chipped bone in my elbow, 2 herniated discs in my neck, a few stitches on my head and a concussion. I was hospitalized for 8 days and transferred to 4 different rooms.

The case is still not closed. Because the woman was uninsured, along with her parents, there is no coverage. The man who owned the car (now the woman's husband) has VERY poor insurance and does not make any money. I will NOT be getting millions of dollars, I will be getting a few thousand Maybe.

It's not about the money, it's about the event. It's completely effected me. I am a different Jodi than before the accident. I do have a different view on life. Small problems are now just that, small. I love living life and try to appreciate every gift that has been given to me. I am a lucky ducky. I'm still facing obstacles because of the accident, but at least I'm facing them. I try to put a positive spin on everything I do and enjoy each moment. It's all we have. Make the most out of it.

I wrote a song! "Hit by a Car"
I may do more with the story, who knows!
I hope you enjoy it! :D

Jodi Skeris on iLike - Get updates inside iTunes

Thanks Mike for your blog post too!!
(in case my MP3 hosting doesn't work)

FairVote explains IRV

A good thing to know.

Terry Tate: Reading Is Fundamental

Watch the WHOLE thing...to the very end.

Dog Run NEEDED in Astoria

I live in Astoria, Astoria park is (1) far away (2) really dirty and gross (3) doesn't have a separate space for small dogs. So I've decided to form: Astoria Dog Owners Group (A. D.O.G.).

Astoria Dog Owners Group
This group will unite owners and their pups to promote a better life. The first order of business is to get a suitable dog run in the area. In order to do this, I need people to fill out the following petition below. The petition will also double as becoming a member of the Astoria Dog Owners Group. If you don't want to become a member but want to sign the petition, just leave out your email.

To sign, go to:
http://www.petitiononline.com/adog2008/petition.html

PLEASE!!! Emmie needs a place to meet new friends!!!!

Avon Stats

It's kind of amazing:
$11.5 Million, 405 survivors and over 4600 participants.

I was told by my walker pal MIchelle, that at the closing ceremony, they announced a donation to one of the NY hospitals of $4.5 million.

Very awesome. Thank you again to those who donated, walked, and supported.

Avon Breast Cancer Walk

An amazing experience, one that shouldn’t be taken for granted, an experience with a purpose. The Avon Breast Cancer walk was nothing short of inspirational. Thousands of people raised over $11 million dollars through the New York walk alone. People of different shapes, sizes, genders, sexualities bonded together for one goal; to walk almost 40 miles in 2 days which included a series of blisters on our feet, sore hips, thighs, hamstrings, knees and feet from walking in the rain, sun, wind over bridges, hills and boroughs. I was on my friend Nicole’s team with 7 other walking ladies (including Daine who is 4 months preggers!!). My favorite quote happened while I was eves-dropping on others conversations between zoning out, was between 2 women walkers:

Woman 1: How you doing?
Woman 2: It’s not about me today.

We had station “pit” stops every few miles with loads of snacks, water, Gatorade, port-o-potties and cheerers. The cheerers really got us going especially during the quite walk times. I got kinda bonkers during the last 10 miles of our walk and started making up songs and raps about our walk, along with well known hits like: Threes Company theme song, Facts of Life theme song, Greatest Love of All, Muppets theme song, Andy Griffin theme song, Whistle While You Work, Somewhere over the Rainbow... After mile 27, we camped together on Randall Island in tents that we had to put up, with the help of some nice boy scouts. There were semis filled with showers to clean ourselves up in with rows of chairs for us to scoot in line. I met a woman in her mid-20s who trained in the gym everyday and had run marathons. She said this was the hardest walk she had ever done. Me, and other women around her, agreed in awe as we compared blisters on our feet. Down from our tents they had set up tents for us for massage, podiatry, medical, chiropractor and physical therapy. The massage appointments filled up quick, I missed that, so I went over to the podiatrist tent. I met a woman wearing a pink fishing hat with many ribbons and walk pins who had done this walk for 5 years. She talked about how she always lost toenails every year, this was the first time she ever had a blister. After having my blisters drained and padded, I headed over to the medical tent to have my knees iced. I was nothin’ compared to the 5-7 people who were hooked up to IVs due to dehydration. After my treatments, I headed back to the tent and cuddled up in my space-like mylar foil blanket and passed out under my tent with my pal Michelle.

I woke up to the HARD rain hitting our tent at 6am. Michelle took control of the tent duties while I cleaned up. We ran to our food, drinks, and sloshed into the food tent. People were ripping off the pink tablecloths to make raincoats for the walk. Luckily Michelle brought extras, so I was good to go. We merrily went into the rain and thankfully it cleared up within a half n’ hour of our walk. 13 miles was going to be nothing after our day of 27. There were more bonding chat walks and eves-dropping of amazing survivor stories. We all ended the walk back at 43rd street with a welcome of friends, family, strangers, and Cheer New York (yes, of course I got info from them—I was only a cheerleader of 13 years).

Thank you AGAIN for all the donations! The set the standard high to meet a minimum of $1500, I was able to raise a little over $2500! Wow!

Thank you Nicole for letting me join your awesome group. I loved meeting everyone (I already love Michelle though, so she doesn’t count, HA! Squish).

Yes, I will most likely do this walk again in a few years. I’d like to mix up the causes I walk/run/bike for, that’ll be my goal.

Thank you Avon and all their supporters. It was a great experience I’ll never forget. Also, Avon has set up another research foundation called Army of Women to find the cure to Prevent cancer from even Starting! Please sign up or spread the news. As a volunteer, they will send you emails about research that you can choose to participate in: www.armyofwomen.org


More Pictures

Avon Breast Cancer Walk

This is a pretty serious walk. They are not joking around here. $1800 minimum to raise, 2 days, 40 miles, rain or shine. I am lucky to know amazingly generous people and was able to raise over $2500! Like, WOW!

Ever since I had a job, I've donated as much as I could. Last year, I was making good cash and donated tons to my pals that walked, ran, and chopped all of their hair off. This year, I'm not making nearly as much (but am MUCH happier at my place of employment and position), so I decided to do the duties. I still can't really run far and my hair is just growing back from my own chopping. This walk seemed to be the perfect cause. I know so many people that have been effected by cancer. My entire family on my mom's side has a long history of cancer, not necessarily breast cancer. I'm actually not sure where the cancer started in most of my family's cases, because it had spread so fast. Members who I know of that have been effected: Great-grandma and grandpa, Grandpa Reed, Grandma Shirley, Aunt Linda, and, just recently, my Aunt Mary. Unfortunately, most my family didn't survive. But my Aunt Mary is currently fighting the disease hard and I know she can beat it! Mary rocks!!

So do the rest of the men and women that I'll be walking with tomorrow! I just finished registering today and already people are sporting pink wigs, boas, shirts, you name it! Yes, it'll be a long hard walk, but it looks like it's going to be tons of fun. I will be taking pictures and keeping ya'll updated.

Thank you ALL for your support!!
Hugs and Loves :D

*Pictured: great-grandma Helen, me, and grandma Shirley