On March 30, 2006, 21-year-old Kendra Kavanagh, having just dropped off her paramedic boyfriend at the fire station where he worked, was driving home on unfamiliar roads. She did not see the van that T-boned her before the world went black. Kendra’s boyfriend was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the horrific crash and tend to her injuries, which included a skull fracture, facial fractures, rib and pelvic fractures, as well as multiple brain hemorrhages.

During her stay in the West Wing Intensive Care Unit at Emanuel Hospital, Kendra had a monitor and drains placed in her skull to try to reduce the swelling in her brain. Initially comatose, Kendra fought her way back from the edge. When Kendra finally started moving on her own, she could not move her right side at all. But due to her drive and determination, the diligent work of therapists and family members, as well as a stint at RIO (Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon), Kendra is now riding horses, training her dog, playing softball, and working as a paramedic caring for those in the same situation she herself was in!