The driver allegedly responsible for a head-on crash in Amherst which seriously injured a Temple woman has been arrested on vehicular assault charges.
Lisa Beaudoin of Temple was involved in a crash in Amherst on Dec. 19 along Route 101 near Stockwell Road. Her Toyota Prius was struck head-on by a Chevrolet Silverado driven by Robert Sheridan, 34, who allegedly crossed over the centerline.
Amherst police arrested Sheridan on Friday on a warrant charging him with vehicular assault and a yellow/solid line violation.
Sheridan was released on personal recognizance bail and issued a court date of Jan. 31 at the 9th Circuit Court in Milford.
It will still be several months before she can start the process of re-learning to walk, but Beaudoin said she is counting her blessings.
“I can’t bend my knees, but that’s OK, because I’m alive,” Beaudoin said in an interview Tuesday. “I don’t have any spinal injuries, internal injuries or major head injuries.”
Beaudoin is expected to be discharged from her post-operative rehabilitation this week.
Her injuries include fractures to both her femurs and her left tibia, a left femoral neck fracture, fractures in her left arm and fingers, a broken clavicle and scapula and multiple fractured ribs.
She said doesn’t remember the accident, or the helicopter that took her to the hospital. All she knows of the accident is what’s been told to her by police, she said. And what they’ve told her is that it could very easily been a fatal crash.
“I know the dashboard of my car was pinned just shy of my chest. The Amherst Police Department has told me that if I hadn’t swerved just the little bit I was able to before he hit me, that I would have been killed instantly,” she said.
It was one of many “small, life-saving miracles” she experienced that night, she said.
Beaudoin said she only has vague memories of the first three days of her recovery. She remembers being in incredible pain, and having to tell her sons not to touch her, and telling her sister to contact her colleagues at ABLE New Hampshire, a disabilities advocacy organization, to pass off deadlines – she knew she’d contact family, Beaudoin said with a laugh, but wanted to make sure her deadlines and time-sensitive projects got passed off.
Beaudoin said the pain is still “indescribable” but she’s been improving every day. Currently, she’s been doing six hours a day of physical and occupational therapy to prepare her to go home, and making sure she can move herself to and from her wheelchair to get out of bed and go to the bathroom.
“Rehabilitation works, and I’m motivated and enthusiastic,” she said. While everything still takes her a lot of time and effort, she’s seen herself improve she said – transferring herself from her bed to wheelchair may take five minutes, but it took her 15 when she first started her rehabilitation, she said.
Even when she goes home officially, she will still require 24-hour care, she said. Both her legs are in casts, and because of her arm injuries, she cannot put weight on them to use crutches for another 12 weeks.
Beaudoin said she has already started back to her work at ABLE New Hampshire, working a few hours a day, and she will be working herself up to a half-day by next week, and plans to work a full-time schedule by Feb. 1, working from home and using video calls for meetings.
“There’s no doubt that I’m physically stronger and making progress every day,” Beaudoin said. “From the beginning, I’ve just been thrilled to be alive. One of the metaphors that has been comforting to me is I imagine I got halfway to Heaven, and they looked back and said, ‘Oh, we weren’t paying attention. You have more work to do. Go back down.’”
Beaudoin said she’s been given a lot of support from family, friends, and residents of Temple.
“Love is a healing force, and I’ve been the beneficiary of a lot of love and prayers, and I am so grateful for the love and well-wishes,” she said. “It’s been my buoy, and what’s kept me vibrant and happy and focused.”
A donation page on the crowdfunding website CaringBridge for donations to support Beaudoin’s care as she recovers has been set up. It can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/lisabeaudoin or by searching “Lisa Beaudoin” on CaringBridge.org.