For the past 97 days, sophomore Olivia Cross has gotten around by the use of a wheelchair.

    Yesterday, Cross visited the doctor and found out when her fifth surgery would be; she moved one day closer to being able to walk on her right foot again.

    "Mostly I will feel relieved," said Cross, who was injured in an auto accident this past summer. "I’m going to be excited to get out of this stupid chair."

    On July 11, Cross sat in the back of her friend’s Range Rover. They were bobbing their heads to the radio when a car merged onto the highway just as another vehicle switched into their lane.

    The Range Rover curved sharply, but the crash wasn’t avoidable. The Range Rover flipped several times.

    "Sean Kingston’s ‘Fire Burning’ was playing," she said. "Then, the car swerved and flipped. I thought it was going to explode."

    Cross’s leg dangled out of the sunroof while the Range Rover slid on its side down the road at 70 miles per hour. Blood spurted out of her leg to the beat of her heart. She did not faint or black out and was luckily able to crawl out of the car.

    "It’s funny how when you get hurt really bad you don’t feel anything," Cross said. "My parents were on my mind, not my leg. But I did scream when I saw blood squirting out of it."

    Cross was brought back to Hackley Hospital where her right leg was bandaged in blood packs.

    "I didn’t really know what to think when the doctors told me there was a 50/50 chance I wouldn’t walk again," said Cross whose toenails were non-existent.

    She was put on the medication Dilaudid (pain pill) and would have to consume 4 milligrams of the drug daily.

    "The pills had this weird side effect where I’d go to say something out loud but say it in my head," Cross said. "Like my friends would say hi and I’d say hi back, but the hi only came out in my mind."

    Her room was filled with signs and hand-made cards, most reading, "Get well soon!" and "We love you, Olivia!" Some people made posters where Cross smiled beside her friends in a collage of pictures.

    "The nurses didn’t take me seriously when I asked for pain pills. The doctors’ charts were confusing, which confused the nurses, which confused me," Cross said. "It really was my friends who helped get me though it."

    Cross can now be recognized in Shores’ hallways by her wheelchair and the boot that occupies her right leg. Soon though, she will be back on her feet, ready to walk.

    "For now, I’m just happy to be back to crack jokes," Cross said grinning.