It started out to be what I would identify as a normal day. After work, I was running an errand. I was in a parking lot, when the car in front of me started to back up, so I extended my arm on the steering wheel to beep. I was hit, anyway. There wasn’t any damage, and I felt fine, so I didn’t think it was necessary to exchange names, but luckily I remembered his license plate.

Thirty to 45 minutes later, my shoulder started to ache. Ten days later, my arm and hand were nonfunctional. It started out as a sprain, and it developed into reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), which is currently known as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

Unfortunately, when my insurance company contacted the man who had backed into me, he denied it. Nearly two years later, 32 hours before the statute of limitation was up, there was a twist of fate; I was blindsided with a phone call. And this is when I hired my attorney Elliott Pelegrin.

It’s my hope that after listening to If You Get Me Out of This One, listeners will realize that one needs determination not only to recover from RSD/CRPS, but any conflict. I was in for the fight of my life, and I made it through because I did exactly what my doctors, therapists, and attorney told me to do.

It took a lot of time, work, patience, and mostly determination. I gave it my best shot. Several times, I’ve heard Robin Roberts from Good Morning America say, “Make your mess your message.” It took me 29 years before I could openly discuss my mess.