April 26, 2919, was a normal day for me driving home from work. I was sitting at a stop light on the highway with about 10 cars in front of me. All of a sudden, BAAMM. I was just rear ended, thrown around in my seat and felt as if my head touched the rear view mirror. When I looked up I noticed cars pulled over to the side of the road and people running over to check on me. The car that hit me hit me that hard that she went under my suv and her lights got lodged into my frame. Her whole front end and hood were smashed in. I remember the cop asking her “What were you doing?” “How did you not see her?”. The woman hit me sitting at a red light doing 60mph. I knew something did not feel right in my arm and shoulder but I could not explain it. I had awful pain in my neck it felt like my head was going to fall off my shoulders. Six months and eight doctors later I found out that I not only had bulging discs in my neck but I also lost the curvature in my neck. The Doctor said if I were to be in another accident like that again I would be paralyzed from the neck down. As for my shoulder, I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. My left shoulder was smashed from the seatbelt and was causing my left arm to go numb. Not only was that an issue but it was causing my resting heart rate to increase to 170. At 37 years old I was diagnosed with tachycardia. In order to fix the problem I had to have a surgery for the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS) which I had to sign a waiver agreeing that I was aware of all risks that I could bleed out on the table as they had to reroute my main blood vessel to my heart. The surgery was a success! I spent a few weeks in a sling, now comes reality. The woman that hit me had bare minimum Pennsylvania coverage $15k/$30k policy coverage with $5k medical. I had gone through PT for my neck as well as my shoulder. With having the surgery on my shoulder as well as injections in my neck my medical bills were over $150k. 

December 24, 2021, it’s Christmas Eve! My family and I are on our way to visit family for Christmas dinner. We were on the highway coming off the ramp and merging on to another section of highway a before we knew it BAAMM. Just when I couldn’t think it would be possible to get rear ended again!!! This time it was us and two other cars. A woman came flying up the on ramp in her Subaru doing 70mph hits the minivan behind us and the mini van then slams into the back of us. Our car is totaled. My feet instantly went numb at the point of impact. So naturally I think this is it just like what the doctor said, I’m going to be paralyzed. I started to freak out! The ambulance arrived and instantly checked me out. When I realized I could move my feet I denied going to the hospital and instantly called my neck doctor and asked to see him that Monday. From that day forward the numbness got worse, it went from my feet to my legs, then my hands and arms and even my face. For awhile I was even getting electric shocks in the back of my neck. I had several MRIs done, I had multiple bulging discs in my neck and back. I went in for numerous neck and back injections, ablations, and nerve blocks. Each procedure I had done was $20k ($20k for the left side, $20k for the right side- for the neck and for the back). So you can imagine how high my medical bills have gotten between my neck an back. My symptoms have only progressively gotten worse over the months since the accident. I can no longer walk more than 15 minutes without being in complete pain in my legs and feet. I was diagnosed with Sensorimotor polyneuropathy. I have had vertigo everyday for the last two years along with tremors in my arms and legs. Both of my eyes have nystagmus’s in them. Another frustrating symptom I have is when laying in bed I do not feel my legs below me, however they feel as if they are next to me. If I am sitting in a chair with arms the arms feel like they are up at my face. I have been told this is a positional issue due to damage to my spinal cord. My most recent diagnoses are; Traumatic Brain Injury, Concussion, Central pain syndrome, Chronic pain syndrome, PTSD. I have been deemed disabled an placed on disability as of last year. I go see a neurosurgeon next month to see if I will be like this the rest of my life an if there is in fact a spinal cord injury. Sadly once again, the woman in the Subaru speeding up the ramp had bare minimum Pennsylvania coverage $15k/$30k policy with $5k medical. After this accident I was once again well over $100k in medical debt.

It is not fair for anyone’s life to be ruined no matter who you are and turned upside down to be left on disability, a quarter of what your income used to be. All because someone was driving reckless and then did not have adequate car insurance to cover the medical bills from treating you and your injuries sustained from the accident.

Pennsylvania's minimum auto insurance coverage requirements are $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident for liability coverage, and $5,000 in medical coverage. These requirements date back to the 1970s.

In 2019, legislation introduced what would increase the minimum liability coverage to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for liability coverage, and $15,000 for medical coverage…..THIS HAS YET TO BE PASSED!

Please help me in signing this petition as one day you or a loved one could be in my shoes. Let’s get $30k/$60k/$15k PASSED!