One hot day in early May, Amy Wert dove into a hotel swimming pool in Washington, D.C., — and woke up in the hospital.
“When I first woke up, I don’t remember anyone telling me I was paralyzed,” the young lawyer said Friday, two days after returning home to her mother’s house in Wilkes-Barre. “But I knew.”
“Please tell people not to dive head first, anywhere. It’s a leading cause of spinal cord injuries, after car accidents,” she told a reporter, explaining the C5 vertebrae in her neck had burst when she hit her head in that pool.
Months of therapy have followed the accident for Wert, 28, who is a 2011 graduate of Holy Redeemer High School, a 2015 graduate of Iona College and a 2017 graduate of Elon University School of Law.
After a month at George Washington University Hospital followed by three months of rehab at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Ga., where “as I got stronger, they really packed my day,” she’s grateful for every ability she’s regained.
“I couldn’t scratch my nose for the longest time, or push my hair off my face,” she said. “I took so much for granted.”
There still are many things she can’t do, among them reaching her arms over her head, holding a fork without having it strapped to her hand, signing her name, and walking.
But she’s determined to keep working to improve her strength. As for her professional life, the young woman who had anticipated a career as a criminal prosecutor now is eager to become an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.
“There needs to be more awareness of all kinds of disabilities, not just mine,” she said. “The only way to do that is public exposure. We need to see more disabled people in Congress or the Senate or just out there, advocating. We’re like everybody else; we just do life a little bit differently.”
“As soon as I’m ready to go back to work, I want to get involved with nonprofits,” she said. “There are so many roadblocks with making places accessible, and even a basic understanding of what people like me can and can’t do. Unfair isn’t the right word. Yes, we’ve had the Americans with Disabilities Act since the ’90s, but we haven’t had significant legislation since then, and that was 30 years ago.”
People with disabilities face financial roadblocks, too.
“Physically and emotionally you go through so much,” Wert said. “The financial burden on top is almost enough to push you under. It’s mind boggling. My mother had to quit her job because taking care of me is a 24-hour-a-day job.”
“After everything I’ve gone through and my mom’s gone through with insurance,” she said, her voice trailing off. “It’s a crap shoot to be honest. There are so many roadblocks.”
“Unfortunately, there are so many things that insurance doesn’t cover,” said Claire Wert, who is Amy’s mom. “They pay for one wheelchair, that’s it. But you need a manual one if you want to go up steps. A power chair’s not going to go up two steps. And we need a vehicle that she’d be able to be a passenger in.”
The family home also needs some modifications, such as a ramp and a lift.
And there are daily expenses for the 10 to 12 medications Amy Wert is taking, as well as other home medical supplies.
But friends are rallying to help with the many expenses. Wert’s cousin Julia Kundratic started a GoFundMe account which as of Friday had raised more than $47,000.
And the Young Lawyers Division of the Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association has planned a benefit for 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 8 at Mainstreet Galleries, 370 Pierce St., Kingston.
“It will be open house style, so you don’t have to stay the entire time,” Brittany Quinn of the Young Lawyers Division said, explaining the $20 admission price includes beer, wine, soda, water and light snacks. The event also will include a silent auction and “if people are interested in helping out more, we’re open to donations of gift cards or baskets for the raffle.”
Anyone who wants to help with the fund-raiser for Amy Wert may contact Quinn via email at [email protected]/.
“I can’t imagine what she’s dealing with,” Quinn said. “It’s hard enough being a young lawyer without losing your mobility.”
Wert admits she was “in a dark place” when she first realized how severely she’d been injured.
“I was in bed 24 hours a day and didn’t have a voice because of the vent I was on. I had to mouth everything. So already you have no movement and then you can’t talk either.”
“In the beginning I didn’t see a way out. Everything was really dark. I asked my mom if things would always be like this and she said no,” Wert said. “She was right.”
Family members are confident Amy Wert will experience more triumphs.
“Everybody who knows my daughter knows she’s a fighter,” Claire Wert said.
“If anyone has the iron will to conquer this challenge,” Amy’s cousin wrote on the GoFundMe account, “it is most certainly her.”
“It’s hard to not focus on the things you’ll never be able to do again,” Amy Wert admitted. “I’ll never feel the sand on my toes, or what it feels like to rub freshly shaved legs together.”
“But things have gotten better. I made a ton of really great friends at Shepherd and I realize I’m going to have a good life.”
“It’s just not the life I thought I’d have.”