For Columbia Primary School counselor Jenny Maul, Feb. 16, 2020, will mark a day of victory.
It's the one-year anniversary of a horrific car accident where she received life-threatening injuries, including losing her left forearm. But now she's back working and enjoying life with her family.
“What a difference a year makes. I hope to make it a celebration that we are still here,” she said.
The crash in Bassfield left Maul with a broken right wrist, collapsed right lung, lacerated spleen, shattered pelvis, broken left femur near the hip and breaks in her lower back. She recalls hearing a first responder say she wasn't going to make it because of heavy bleeding from her left arm, causing a moment of panic. She asked another first responder if she was going to die; he responded no, she was going to live.
From that point on, Maul has been doing just that.
As the anniversary draws nears, Maul wants to focus on the positive. She said she is very grateful and thankful for everything they have been through and how they have made it this far.
“Our faith has grown larger and amazed at His abundance of grace,” she said.
Maul has learned how to function with only one hand, rejoicing in each victory that has come her way, like learning to hold her son, Charlie, now 2, and the correct way to do the hair of her 7-year-old daughter, Ruby.
One of the things she has learned in this last year is sometimes you have to let other people take care of you. Maul, having a "mom mentality," always took care of things, but she was forced to step back and accept the help from her husband, Chris, and her mother. She said Chris has been very good, and the whole ordeal has drawn them closer.
In addition to losing her left arm, she also had a rod placed in her left thigh. Maul said that has been very hard on her because before the accident she was a runner.
“When you are in the hospital for so long, even with physical therapy, your muscles get so weak. I was a runner, and I can still be a runner; I am getting there,” Maul said.
She said she has jogged a couple of times, and she wants to active like she was before. Her parents are very active with the grandchildren, and she wants to be the same way one day.
Ruby remembers the accident a little bit, and every once in a while she will talk about it. Maul said she remembers her daughter saying “momma” at the accident and she responded to her. Now Ruby refers to Maul’s left arm as her "lucky fin" from the movie “Finding Nemo.”
Losing a limb is a grieving process, which is something she has dealt with. At one point she was angry and trying to figure out how to do things and afraid she would have to be dependent on people. She said a friend, Andy Rushing, visited and prayed with her multiple times, which helped with the depression and despair that would try to sink in.
Around June or July she received her first prosthetic limb. It was explained to her ahead of time that it would be more of a tool than an actual hand. By having that warning, she was able to be excited but not disappointed when it came time to use it. One of the things she said most people don’t realize is you also lose your sense of touch. She said she was glad there was a time period before she received her prosthetic arm. During that time not only did it give time for her arm to heal but also gave her time to learn how to do a lot of things she was unable to do before.
She started working again on July 22, part-time at first. She said she has enjoyed the students’ reactions and questions. She said they are so honest and do not guard their questions, and she speaks honestly to them about it.
A prosthetic company, Unlimited Tomorrow, has selected Maul to be one of 100 people to take part in the “100 Tomorrow” project. The company uses 3D engineering and imaging to create a prosthetic limb, even matching the skin tone. She said they sent her a 3D scanner to scan both arms, and she sent it back and from there they create it. Because it is a test project, it is free of charge.
Maul said if she had to write a book about her ordeal, she said would have to call it “Beauty from Ashes.” She learned her amputated arm was incinerated and from those ashes, her family has grown greatly in their faith and come out stronger.
