CBS4 Exclusive: Woman Hit By Driver While Sunbathing Is Recovering And Expecting
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - It was a busy Friday afternoon in mid-October for Maya Amitzy. She finished making dinner and preparing her house for guests. She decided to relax and lay out in her backyard to soak up some sun. It was a fateful decision.
Minutes after lying down on a lounge chair, an unthinkable event occurred--Plantation Police say her next door neighbor plowed through several fences, struck Amitzy and threw her against the wall of the neighbor's home.
"I didn't understand what happened to me," she told CBS 4's Carey Codd on Friday in her first interview since the accident. "I kept telling (people) help me get up."
But Amitzy couldn't get up. She had broken bones, internal bleeding and serious head trauma. And she was about to learn something that would change everything. She said the nurse came to tell her that she was pregnant.
"I didn't know that I'm pregnant until I get to ER," she said.
Maya was early in her first trimester and she would later learn that she is pregnant with a son. As she lay in intensive care for weeks, her questions and worries mounted.
"To take painkillers, not to take painkillers? To scream from pain? Would I be able to survive this kind of pain? Will he survive?" she recalled.
Maya relied on her strength and the help of her family and friends to recover. But she admits the pain was unbearable at times.
"I don't wish to my worst enemies to feel something like this," she said. "The pain is horrible. Your entire body is sore. You can't even tell where (the pain) is coming from."
But she says the life growing inside her was all the motivation she needed to move forward.
"When you have a reason -- a why -- it's better," she said. "Everything gets a meaning. I knew for 100 percent that I wanted this baby more than anything in the world."
For her, everything changed when she heard her child's heartbeat for the first time.
"The moment that you hear the heartbeat it's like you can breathe," she said.
Amitzy is halfway through her pregnancy and says doctors assure that her baby is developing as he should. She says she is "blessed" and doesn't dwell on the suffering and what-if's of what happened. She can smile now remembering the unconventional way she broke the news of her pregnancy to her husband in the hospital.
"With blood and mud all over my hair and all the scratches and wounds, I was like, 'Well, congratulations, Daddy,'" she said.
CBS 4 News tried to speak with the driver accused of hitting Amitzy -- her next door neighbor, Doreen Hercules. Hercules didn't open her door or reply to a voicemail on Friday. Amitzy says despite all the damage and pain from the accident she's never heard from the woman either.
"She never came to check if I'm alive," Amitzy said.
Plantation Police say it's unlikely that Hercules will face any criminal charges, however it's likely that she will receive a citation. State motor vehicle officials tell CBS 4 News that Hercules' license is active but police say they have ordered an administrative review to determine if she should be able to drive.
Amitzy is focused on her recovery and her growing family but she hopes others learn from this accident. She believes there is a moment for people to ask when it's time to stop driving.
"Everyone should be honest with themselves and if they're not able to do it then don't do it because it's the worst weapon there is," she said. "In a second it can ruin a person's life."