Long story.
I was driving alone late at night when I was hit by the rear end of a tractor-trailer. It lifted my car off the ground on one side, dragging it 31 feet (as evidenced by the skid marks from only the driver's side tires) before it finally released my car, then running over the front of my car, and sending it head on into the concrete jersey wall in-between the median. I was knocked unconscious, pulled out of the car by a good samaritan who stopped, called the cops, and got me out.
The EMTs had concerns of possible broken ribs / vertebrae, concussion, and possible neck damage. I went out of there strapped to a backboard with my head strapped down. Ambulance took me to the hospital, of course, I had some x-rays; somehow no broken bones, and only needed 4 stitches in my leg. That was from the dashboard being crushed during the head-on collision with the concrete wall, and the dashboard dug hard into my shin and hit bone. At the time I didn't remember what happened at all; I got to see what happened on the morning news in the hospital while waiting on x-ray results and whatever else they did that I can't remember; it was a four vehicle accident. My car was totaled, and the cop who came to the hospital to get a statement from me said he was surprised that anyone walked away from my car.
There was road work ahead, and 3 tractor-trailers in front of me. The first one slowed down. The second one apparently didn't, and rear-ended the one in front; the guy in the second one died on impact. The third one, the one in front of me, saw the collision and swerved left to avoid hitting them, which was when he cut into my lane and the rest of the mess happened. The impact was so bad that it pushed part of the frame and engine into the passenger seat, as well as collapsing some of the rear of the car due to the momentum and all the heavy stuff I had in the trunk (I was driving cross-country).
The doctor dropped me off at the airport later that day and I flew home. I had a huge bruise on my chest from the steering wheel, armpit to armpit, the stitches in my shin, and general soreness all over. The chest bruises were immensely painful due to a medical condition I have (
pectus excavatum) which makes me extra sensitive to chest injuries. It hurt to walk. My dad picked me up at the airport and took me back to the house. I sulked in my failure to get to California to meet a girl I was talking to online, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, it was only then I
really knew what it felt like to get hit by a truck. The adrenaline was gone, and my body said "hey, idiot, how ya feelin!!". My family left for vacation later that day; I refused to go, thinking of the agony of being cramped into the van and driving for 8+ hours when I could barely get comfortable for 30 minutes while laying down. I wasn't going to say "I screwed up really bad but please stay and take care of me"; I left 2 days after I got my driver's license to drive to California, without anyone's approval or knowledge, and just left a note saying I'm going to Cali and hoping I can stay with my cousin when I get there.
For a few days, it was painful to get out of bed, painful to walk up and down the steps, almost painful just to be awake sometimes... and now, over 15 years later, when I walk more than a mile or so, I get an acid-like burning in my shin where I used to have the stitches. That is, without a doubt, the worst pain I've ever felt.
But it taught me two things; know and respect your limits when driving, and the lady who stopped to help was probably my guardian angel. I never saw her car, and never saw her leave. It was roughly 2am in the morning, so traffic was very light. Maybe I was just woozy from the unconsciousness; maybe guardian angels are real.
