“Geraldine was a 17-year-old athlete from Spain. Her passion was to be in the Olympics, at least by the age of 21, until something major happened that changed her whole life around....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
She was preparing for a trip to the mountains with some of her teammates who trained on the track with her. She couldn’t wait for the exciting adventure, but little did she know that terror would strike on this trip.
Geraldine and her two buddies, Lee and Pam, rode in Pam’s father’s Jeep to a cabin deep in the woods and to a place where the most amazing mountains and riverbeds were situated.
They were going to have the time of their lives. Pam’s parents were extremely rich, and they owned the cabin. Lee was an average girl who loved books, while Geraldine’s life had always revolved around the track, as her mom was also an athlete. She lived with her single mom who accepted nothing but the best, so Geraldine was always under pressure.
The trip was a great way to get away from all the pressure, and when they arrived, the first thing Geraldine wanted to do was swim since it was blazing hot and the drive was 3 hours long. The thing she saw looked like a snake, but it was not long. It had the head of a snake with a short body, and it looked like it was headed right for her face.
Despite the initial shock, she carefully observed the creature’s behavior and movements, determining if it posed any immediate danger. She considered slowly backing away.
Geraldine swam back up with all her might, trying to beat the speedy creature darting for her, and just before she hit the surface, she felt a ping in her ear. Did the creature get her? When she reached the surface, she screamed for her friends to get out of the water, and they swam as fast as they could, pulling Geraldine along since she was panicking.
After the swim, the girls took a shower and got something to eat from a nearby restaurant. They sat outside on the porch and watched the sunset, but Geraldine was still freaked out about what happened in the water.
Her temperature started rising, and her friends got worried. Lee, being the bookworm, decided to research river snakes and came across something that Geraldine described. It was a baby water snake, which was not poisonous.
So even if she did feel a bite or a ping on her ear, she should still be fine. So what was really going on with Geraldine? Pam asked her if she would like to go see a doctor, but Geraldine insisted that she would be fine in the morning.
However, during that night, the most horrific thing happened. While sleeping, she started feeling a heavy pain in her ear. The pain got so bad that she screamed around 2 a.m. Lee and Pam immediately woke up and found Geraldine curled up on the bed, holding her ears and rocking back and forth.
When they tried to check on Geraldine, she screamed hysterically, and Lee managed to calm her down. Geraldine was crying and telling them that she was going to die. What was going on with her? Pam pulled Geraldine’s hand away from her ears to see what was going on, and what she saw gave her the fright of her life.
What did she see? Lee also took a look after she saw Pam’s frantic reaction, and what she saw made her run to the bathroom and throw up. The sight of what was happening to Geraldine was too horrific. What was this thing?
Pam managed to calm down, put on her boots, and grabbed her keys, and they both carried their friend to the car. They raced to the hospital, but on the way, they almost bumped into a deer on the road and ended up hitting a tree.
Everything that was happening to them felt like a horror movie. Pam and Lee tried to call an ambulance, but there was no signal, so they stood on the side of the road, waiting for someone to pass to get some help.
Geraldine whined in pain as the thing inside her ear tried to make its way out but seemed stuck. What was this thing, and how did it get in there? As the hours passed, blood started oozing out of Geraldine’s ear, and her eyes began rolling backward. Lee and Pam kept slapping her face to keep her awake.
How were they going to get her to the hospital on time since it was now 4:00 a.m., and no vehicle was even making an appearance?
The friends had to come up with a plan. Pam took out her tweezers, and Lee retrieved the alcohol from the emergency box. While Lee held on to Geraldine, Pam used her tweezers to grab onto the head of the creature that kept moving about.
This was an unbelievable sight, and the girls had to be brave for their friend. The snake in Geraldine’s ear was impossible to remove; it was still alive and looked terrifying as its mouth kept opening up. After an hour of trying to remove the reptile, Geraldine blacked out. Did this creature actually take her life?
Lee and Pam broke down as they tried to get their friend up, and then finally, a truck appeared. The girls stood waving, making sure that it stopped. A tall man stepped out, and the girls were grateful that he was a decent person who would help them get Geraldine to the nearest hospital.
When the doctors saw what was inside her ears, they were all shocked. This was something that had never happened before, and they had no idea how they would get this snake out since it was still alive and moving.
They rushed Geraldine to the ICU, and her friends stayed in the waiting area, hoping that all would be okay. The doctors faced the most challenging surgery they had ever encountered as the snake appeared firmly lodged. What course of action would they choose next?
Geraldine had to undergo a huge surgery, which meant cutting through her earlobe in order to get the creature out. Once they got the snake out, something else occurred which made everyone in the surgery room worry. The scan showed that there was some injury in Geraldine’s brain, which placed her in a coma.
The doctors tried everything, but the snake somehow touched some vital cords through the ear, which caused her brain to slow down.
Who would have thought a simple trip would cause so much damage? Would Geraldine ever recover from this coma? Pam and Lee were devastated, and Geraldine’s mother blamed everything on the girls, saying that they were always jealous of her daughter.
This was not how the friends ever imagined their adventure to the mountains would turn out. Geraldine’s mom refused to let the girls see her daughter, and this hurt Lee and Pam because they had no intention of anyone being hurt.
One year had passed, and Geraldine was no longer in a coma but paralyzed from head to toe. The only thing she could move was her eyes. This was even more painful because now she was fully aware of what was going on and couldn’t do anything about it.
How long would she be able to survive in this state? Her mom hired a nurse to take care of her while she worked hard to pay all the medical bills that kept her daughter alive. Life became a bitter end of nothing for her mom since Geraldine was all she had; she was her pride and joy.
Then one day, the most absurd thing suddenly happened. The nurse stepped out of the room for a while, and Geraldine stayed still with her eyes wide open, looking up at the ceiling.
She was like a newborn baby, unable to feed herself, bathe herself, and even worse, not move an inch. While looking at the ceiling and then the walls, she suddenly spotted something that struck a nerve and made her panic.
It was a house snake crawling up the wall, and after her experience in the river, snakes were now her fear, and this time she couldn’t do anything to escape.
What would happen if the snake got closer? Geraldine started sweating, blinking, and breathing heavily. She wished that she could move, but she was stuck, and the more she wished the snake would go away, the closer it got.
She closed her eyes and tried to calm her mind, attempting something different from her inner being. Geraldine imagined in her mind lifting up her right hand.
She focused hard and tried to make her imagination a reality. When she opened her eyes, the snake was now on the bed. She looked at her right hand, focused again, and suddenly it moved. She managed to drop something down from the side bedside table, which immediately alerted the nurse.
When the nurse rushed in, she saw Geraldine’s right hand hanging out of the bed and her fingers moving. She quickly examined her, and the strange thing was she never saw any snake. Was this all in Geraldine’s mind? The nurse informed Geraldine’s mom about the incident, sparking a glimmer of hope for the first time in a long while.
Her mom devoted more time to helping her daughter regain mobility, and with the support of doctors, Geraldine embarked on a rigorous rehabilitation program. She realized that the power lay within her mind, and she needed to find a way to visualize her body moving in order to make it a reality.
After another 6 months of intensive rehabilitation, Geraldine was able to walk, feed herself, and bathe independently. While her ears remained impaired, she found ways to adapt, such as using hearing aids, sign language, and lip reading.
After Geraldine began regaining her normalcy, she faced another challenge: reconnecting with her friends who hadn’t visited her once since the accident. Initially opposed to the idea, Geraldine’s mom eventually relented.
However, when Geraldine learned of her mom’s blame towards her friends, she was deeply hurt and felt a surge of anger. Determined, Geraldine reached out to Pam and Lee, insisting they visit her.
Relieved and joyful, Pam and Lee reunited with their friend. Geraldine’s mom, realizing her mistake, humbly apologized to the girls, acknowledging the hurt she had caused.
Geraldine wanted to return to the cabin and complete their interrupted getaway together, a plan her mom vehemently opposed.
However, Geraldine refused to let fear or regrets rule her life. Life was too short to be held back by such things. She, along with Pam and Lee, ventured back to the mountains, determined to make the most of their time together.
As they explored, Geraldine encountered the same snake that had nearly derailed her life. Instead of backing away in fear, she bravely approached it, looking it in the eye, and then released it back into the river.
In that moment, Geraldine proved herself a conqueror, facing her fears head-on. Eventually, her mom relented, realizing the importance of Geraldine’s courage and determination…CONTINUE READING>>
