Zakiyyah Gradney enjoyed living what she calls a normal life—working as a chef and hanging out with friends and family whenever possible. It never dawned on her that a night out with her friends in August 2024, would be the last time she would experience normalcy for a while.
As she was driving home, she was T-boned by another vehicle. Her car was violently thrown into a ditch.
“It was so traumatic,” she recalls. “There was so much going through my head when I woke up. Everything was backwards in the car. I just remember the impact. It was very scary, then the pain hit.”
Gradney was rushed to Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital where she found out she suffered a broken pelvis, four fractured ribs and lacerations to her bladder and kidney. As the medical team prepared to rush her into surgery, Gradney recalls being incredibly apprehensive.
“During the process they tried to calm me down because I didn’t want to do the surgery,” she explains. “They needed to put pins in me, but I didn’t want any foreign objects in my body. I was scared of what it would do to me.”
Knowing she needed surgery, hospital staff calmly talked her through the procedures and assured Gradney the surgery was her best option.
“The doctors explained that without the pins my body wouldn’t heal regularly, and the pain would be much worse,” she says.
Gradney recalled a nurse who comforted her after surgery.
“She touched my hand and said,‘Zakiyyah, I want to let you know that it’s going to be OK.’ She told me a story about her car accident and says she has the same pins in her body. She said, ‘Look at me. I’m a nurse, and I’m fine.’ That was the thing that made going home a little bit better.”
After leaving the hospital, Gradney’s next step was physical therapy, which she says was her main key to recovery.
“I have a great physical therapist,” she exclaims. “Once he gave me the tools, I started doing the exercise at home, and five months later I’m walking!”
Gradney’s first goal was to walk again, but now she is dreaming bigger.
“I want to run,” she says emotionally. “I’m very strong, and if I put my mind to something, I can do it. That’s what it’s about. Being patient, believing in yourself, and listening to your doctors.