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Belief Helped Heal Her Broken Dreams

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Robin Powell and best friend Leeann Thurston sing during church service at Faith Outreach Center.

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 17, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Fifty-six steps, give or take a few.

That's what Robin Powell will negotiate tonight, making her way from a church pew to the front of the sanctuary, where she will receive her bachelor's degree in theology from Faith Theological Seminary.

To most, it's a short stroll; to Powell, 48, it's the journey of a lifetime.

"Nothing short of a miracle," says the slight woman who guzzles Mountain Dew and dreams of driving a Hummer one day.

Those who know of Powell's triumph over adversity would agree. Once paralyzed from a devastating car accident, she wasn't supposed to ever walk again, feed herself or brush her own hair. Now she zips around in her motorized blue Victory scooter. "Goes 5 miles an hour," she says proudly. "Gets me everywhere I need to go."

Her best friend, LeeAnn Thurston, can't help but smile when she talks about Powell.

"In spite of everything she's gone through, and it's more than most of us would ever know, she still wakes up every day and finds joy," Thurston says. "She is my inspiration. She is my hope that nothing is as bad as it seems."

On Trip To Sam's Club, Disaster Strikes

On a late Saturday morning in January 2001, when the whole city was abuzz over the Super Bowl coming the next day to Raymond James Stadium, a 21-year-old drunken driver crossed the median on Fletcher Avenue near Dale Mabry Highway and slammed head on into the Toyota Tercel that Powell was riding in, secured by a seat belt in the back seat.

The compact car spun, and was struck a second time by a car traveling closely behind. Powell's neck snapped. It was 11:45 a.m. on a sunny day. The group in the Tercel never made it to Sam's Club to buy supplies for a church picnic.

Before that moment, Powell was independent and fast-moving, a divorced mom raising a 17-year-old son. She made $34,000 a year selling services for Verizon over the phone, in a voice as warm and Southern as pecan pie. She volunteered as an usher at Faith Outreach Center church in Town 'N Country and had completed her first year of seminary.

And then, in an instant, it was gone.

Doctors and other medical personnel at Tampa General Hospital, where Powell was taken by helicopter, were not optimistic. Their comments were caught on tape by a television crew from The Learning Channel's "Trauma: Life in the E.R.," which was filming a segment for the popular series that day.

"The likelihood of her recovering is very poor," one said. And then another: "If she doesn't improve in the next day or so, she'll never return."

They worked at a feverish pace, trying to stabilize Powell, who was paralyzed from the neck down. One nurse seemed very distressed.

"I might want to check out," the nurse said. "I don't think I could live as a quad."

One of the doctors said something that did come true. If Powell survived this, her return to living "would not be a sprint. It would be a marathon."

She would spend the next four months in the hospital, and was released May 10, her son Chris' 18th birthday. Two weeks later, she attended his graduation from Faith Outreach Academy, where he was valedictorian of his class.

There was talk of placing Powell in a nursing facility, where she would get the round-the-clock care she needed. She wanted no part of that. Instead, she got home care and went to physical therapy for the next two years, devoting hours to exercises that would strengthen the wasted muscles in her shoulders, arms and upper body.

Always slender, her weight fell below 95 pounds. She couldn't steady a fork long enough to eat from it. She was helpless to do anything for herself, so the hours between her company and her therapists seemed endless. It was hardest at night, when she lay in the dark, next to her spoiled grey and white cat, Precious.

She would cry out: Why me, Lord? I don't drink, break laws or bring harm on anyone. All I wanted to do was be a good mother, a good Christian, a good citizen.

She would feel herself sinking into a dark hole, then pray her way out of it.

"It was a process," she says. "I don't want people to think I just accepted things. I had to work through it."

Eventually, her fingers started to wiggle again. She worked up the strength to stand and take unsteady steps. She could hold a brush and run it through her hair. Through state assistance, she got a handicapped-accessible shower built into her Town 'N Country mobile home.

It took nearly two years for her case to go to trial. She still felt anger toward Naisha Irizarry, the uninsured driver whose decision to drink and get behind the wheel of her 1986 Honda that morning did irreparable damage to Powell's life. And the young woman apparently hadn't learned her lesson: About two months before their court date, she was arrested by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on another drunken driving charge.

'Forgiveness Will Help You Heal'

Powell's day in court came Oct. 23. Just before she was scheduled to speak, George Siemer, dean of the seminary that Powell had attended before the accident, pulled her aside.

"You don't have a choice," he said. "If you don't forgive that woman, you'll never get out of that wheelchair. It will eat you up the rest of your life."

Siemer also had to heed those words himself. Two of his children, Andrew, then 15, and Aaron, then 3, were in the car with Powell on the day Irizarry crashed into them. Although his sons were not injured, he remembers standing at Tampa General Hospital, watching them being pulled from an ambulance, strapped to stretchers.

"You never want to see your children like that," he says, his voice breaking from the memory. "But I knew it was time for Robin to move on. Hate and anger do no good."

Powell listened. With the assistance of two companions, she got out of her wheelchair and made her way slowly to the judge's bench. She told him: Please, no jail time for Naisha. I forgive her and I want her to get help. But putting her behind bars will do no good.

Irizarry was convicted of drunken driving, causing property damage and serious bodily injury. She got eight years probation. According to Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for Florida Department of Corrections, the Winter Park woman is in full compliance with her court-ordered conditions. They include: DUI school, $250 monthly restitution to Powell, a residential substance abuse treatment program, community service and a five-year suspension of her driver's license.

She and Powell had a few tearful phone conversations after that, but haven't spoken in about two years. Several attempts by the Tribune to reach Irizarry were not successful.

"I hope to God she learned her lesson," Powell says. "But you know what? Dean Siemer was right. Forgiveness will help you heal."

Since 2003, Powell has put a face on the consequences of driving drunk. Eighteen times a year, she speaks to people convicted of driving under the influence at victim impact panels sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. She brings a copy of the television program, a tightly edited segment that gives an inside view of the staff's quick decisions and her family's anguish in the emergency room.

Then she tells the story of the arduous struggle to return among the living and claim the self-reliance she lost that day. The hope is that the convicted drivers will not repeat the behavior that got them arrested because they see what their actions can do to an innocent victim.

Becky Gage, a MADD victim advocate, has watched Powell's progression since meeting her in the courtroom six years ago.

"She's got the determination of a bulldog and an incredible faith," Gage says. "When they hear her story, they see a miracle standing before them."

Last week, the Hillsborough County chapter of MADD thanked Powell for all that she had done for them. She was named Volunteer of the Year.

Determined To Keep Improving

Powell isn't finished yet.

As her physical abilities improved, she went back to seminary two years ago to complete the dream of earning her theology degree. Powell wants to use her biblical training to share her testimony and become a counselor.

Tonight at 7, she joins 109 other students at Faith Outreach Center, where the ceremony will be held. A recent fall forced her to use walker again, but she hopes to go down the aisle with her cane.

It's a walk many said would never happen.

She knows she still has a long way to go. She can only raise her arms to just below her shoulders. She can't bend over and pick up a penny. And if she loses her balance, she will teeter and fall, unable to get back up on her own. She would like to be able to hold her two grandchildren, ages 4 and 2.

She wants to drive again. It doesn't matter that Hummers drink gas. "I'll feel a lot safer in one," she declares.

She works part-time at her church school. Her main source of income is Social Security and disability. Maybe one day, she'll be able to earn a decent paycheck. But not right now.

Powell hopes she is an inspiration to older adults who lack confidence in returning to school. She also wants to get the message out that if you choose to drink, then don't get behind the wheel of a car. But she holds one lesson closest to her heart.

"Don't ever give up on God," she says. "He was a healer 2,000 years ago, and he still heals."

WALK LIKE MADD FUNDRAISER

What: 5-kilometer walk to raise awareness and funding to eliminate drunken driving. Tampa is among more than 50 U.S. cities participating in the event.

When: June 28

Time: 7 a.m. ceremony; walk begins at 7:30 a.m.

Where: Lowry Park Zoo

Events: Face painting, tours of police vehicles, teen activity zone, duck prize pool, free snacks, prizes and more

Information: Go to www.walklikemadd.org or call (813) 935-2676

Reporter Michelle Bearden can be reached at mbearden@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7613. Keyword: Powell, to see a photo gallery of Robin Powell's progress and to read about MADD.

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