- May 12, 2024
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“I’m going to walk down the aisle. I’m not going to have a cane. My father is going to escort me down the aisle, and I am going to walk,” Liz Sherman said. Photo courtesy of Liz Sherman
Liz Sherman walks across the football field at Matanzas High School with Amber Fink and Amber's father, Jeremy. Fink was Michelle Taylor's best friend. Taylor was killed at the crash on March 2, 2017. Photo courtesy of Liz Sherman
Liz Sherman said she's determined to walk without a cane or walker on her wedding day in June. Photo courtesy of Liz Sherman
Liz Sherman remembers waking up from her coma, not knowing what happened to her. With a tracheostomy and ventilator still hooked up to her, one thought ran through her mind:
“Am I ever going to be able to walk by myself?”
Sherman, 22, was struck by a car while walking home on the shoulder of Lakeview Boulevard in Palm Coast the night of March 2, 2017. Michelle Taylor, the sister of her Sherman’s now-fiancé, was walking with her, which Sherman said they often did together. Taylor was killed at the scene of the crash.
After being airlifted by helicopter to UF Health Jacksonville in serious condition, Sherman spent two weeks there, unconscious the whole time.
Then she was transferred to Select Specialty Hospital in Gainesville for two months. Sherman said that many were unsure if she was going to make it. It was then that her sweetheart of five years, William Taylor, asked her to marry him.
When Sherman was released from Halifax Center for Inpatient Rehabilitation in May, William Taylor proposed again — this time with the ring.
Sherman said that before she got to rehab, she had doubts that she’d walk again.
“I wasn’t sure because I couldn’t see the recovery process,” she said. “I was still trying to cope with my accident and the injuries. But when I got to (rehab), I really started to believe like, ‘Hey, I can do this.’”
Sherman said her motivation is inspired by her approaching wedding day. On June 2, 2018, she wants to walk down the aisle — without a walker or a cane.
With that goal in mind, she works hard at physical therapy three times a week. Over the last several months, Sherman has grown stronger. She’s gone from using a wheelchair to a walker to just a cane. On Jan. 5, she took her first steps all on her own.
“I just lost it,” she said. “I was so overwhelmed, I just started crying right there.”
One step at a time, Sherman is certain she’s going to meet William at the end of the aisle.
“The wedding motivates me so much,” she said. “I’m going to walk down the aisle. I’m not going to have a cane. My father is going to escort me down the aisle, and I am going to walk. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it; I’m going to walk.”
