ST. PETERSBURG, Fla - April 22, 2023 is a day Shelly Graham doesn't remember, but will never forget.
"I was pulling up to my block," Graham said. "My friend was in front of me and I went to make a left turn and was waiting in the center lane. As soon as I went to make that left turn, that was the last thing I remember. Almost a month later, I woke up in the hospital and I was told that I had been in a motorcycle accident and that I lost my leg," she said.
Graham and a vehicle collided near 71st Avenue North and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North in St. Pete. She was thrown 60 feet. It happened right down the street from Fire Station 7.
Tuesday, she reunited with the first responders from the station and Sunstar Paramedics, and medical staff from Orlando Health Bayfront who saved her life.
"I truly believe that you were put there on that shift to save me," Graham told them inside Station 7.
"It's our chosen profession to serve the public, and we're able to see our efforts truly help someone in their time of need," St. Petersburg Fire Rescue's Deputy Chief of Emergency Services, Brett Saskowski, said. "It puts our work and our mission into perspective," he said.
"After about 20 hours of surgery, I had coded twice," Graham said. "My back is rebuilt with rods. My femur is rebuilt with plates. I had fractured my hip. I had suffered eight [broken] ribs. I had punctured both of my lungs. I had severed my liver. So, it wasn't really breathing on my own," she said.
She was in a coma for a month and then spent another month in the hospital in rehab.
First responders said the helmet Graham was wearing at the time of the accident gave her a fighting chance.
"It's gratifying to see her smiling, walking," Firefighter Paramedic James King, who responded to the scene, said. "That's what you do the job for," he said. "These are great moments. It's great for everybody. It keeps us going."
Graham said meeting and thanking her heroes gave her closure.
"That was something that they deserved," she said. "I don't have memories of anything that happened, and so this was a way for me to remember who saved me."
"I have worked my way out of a wheelchair through crutches, and to now, in almost two and a half years, I'm now back to walking around. And I go to concerts. I go to the park. I travel and it's possible to do. It's possible to come back from whatever you're coming back from," Graham said. "There are some days that are really hard, and I don't feel like getting up and putting my leg on or continuing to fight this fight of what's a continual battle, but at the same time, I was resuscitated in my accident to live again, and I'm meant to still be here and meant for a second chance at living and tomorrow's not promised."
Graham said it will surprise some people, but she is back riding motorcycles.
"I might just be crazy enough because I don't remember what happened, but I'm still a female rider. That community really saved me as well. And so, it's in your blood when you ride motorcycles. It is something you love just like any other injury. You get back to what you love, you work hard for that," Graham said.