Woman Goes on Date ‘from Hell,’ Ends up in Wheelchair and Scarred for Life: ‘Trust Your Gut Instinct’

When Kiaha Kurek went out on a blind date, she was expecting a nice night out. When her date asked to pick her up, she was hesitant but told herself she was only being paranoid. The date started off well with dinner and a movie, but it soon turned into the worst night of her life.

Blind dates can be some of the most awkward things imaginable. You’re meeting someone for the first time, trying to get to know as much about them in one night, and if you’re not hitting it off, things can end on a sour note. For 35-year-old Kiaha Kurek, a native of Portland, a blind date spelled disaster.

It all started out the usual way. In 2012, she went out with a guy she met on the dating app Plenty of Fish. The guy seemed sweet, and they spoke for a bit before she agreed to go out with him. The guy wanted to take her out for dinner and a movie — a typical night out with someone you don’t know very well.

She agreed but was reluctant about him picking her up in his car. She told him she’d meet him at the restaurant, but he insisted, saying he wanted to show her his car newly restored muscle car. Eventually, Kurek caved, agreeing to let him pick her up at her house and drive her to the restaurant and the movie theatre.

Kurek was rushed to the hospital, where they started putting stitches in the cuts on her face.

Her date, who insisted he would drive responsibly, was over the moon and showed up at her house. When she got in, Kurek realized the car’s seatbelts only wrapped around her hips, and nothing was supporting her torso. Nonetheless, she told herself she was being needlessly paranoid and said nothing,

They had a lovely meal, but the night soon turned into what Kurek called the date “from hell.” On the way to the movie, they stopped at a blinking yellow arrow as they were about to turn left. Suddenly, Kurek’s date pulled forward and stopped in the middle of the road, panicking. Kurek looked to the side and saw headlights rushing toward her.

While Kurek and her date were stopped in the middle of the intersection, a Jeep Cherokee barreled at the car’s passenger side at tremendous speed. Kurek was knocked unconscious, and the very first thing she heard when she woke up was an extremely loud noise.

For three weeks after the accident, Kurek didn’t hear back from her date.

During the collision, Kurek sustained multiple serious injuries. Eventually, they got Kurek out of the car, but she was in tremendous pain. She was hurt all over her body, and it was clear she needed to make it to the emergency room as soon as possible.

Kurek was rushed to the hospital. Her family also rushed out to see her, and her father was understandably furious about the entire incident. The hospital staff then revealed they were going to have to operate, since Kurek broke numerous bones.

Unaware of the extent of the damage, Kurek just wanted them to put a cast on her leg, but the staff soon informed her that things were much more severe than she knew. The impact had shattered her femur and her pelvis, broken her ribs, and left her with a lacerated liver. Needless to say, a cast wasn’t going to cut it.

Her parents returned home, leaving her brothers behind as moral support. Soon, a nurse came in and transferred her to another bed, preparing to take her into surgery. After she initially didn’t want the nurse to move her, Kurek calmed down and was ready for surgery. The surgeon arrived, and she spent seven hours out cold.

After surgery, Kurek was left in excruciating pain. The hospital staff gave her an epidural, which helped with the pain, but things soon took another dark turn. Her doctor informed her that she would have to spend the next year in a wheelchair if she was able to walk at all. She had to relearn how to walk and couldn’t take of herself.

The accident took its toll in more ways than one.

Kurek moved back in with her parents so they could take care of her, but she was determined to prove the doctors wrong and get back on her feet. Over the next six weeks, with the help of physical therapy, she taught herself how to walk again and regained most of her motor function.

For three weeks after the accident, Kurek didn’t hear back from her date. When she did, she found out he had lied about his age, saying he was 24 when he was, in fact, only 19. Kurek described her recovery as extremely painful, but she was determined to regain the skills she had lost.

While Kurek suffered multiple injuries, her date was fine. He had a scratch on his head from the impact, but otherwise, he was entirely unharmed. Kurek confessed that she never sued him after the crash and said she holds no hard feelings toward him, since the entire ordeal was an accident.

She did, however, consider legal action against the hospital, since the nurse who moved her before her surgery wasn’t supposed to touch her at all. It turned out the nurse had committed numerous infractions, and the rest of her staff were livid when they found out about all the things she had done.

The accident took its toll in more ways than one. It cost Kurek a tremendous amount and left her with no savings to speak of. She eventually quit her career as a counselor and opened a food truck instead. Luckily, she was able to recover the use of her legs and now works a job that requires her to be on her feet all day.

She never got in contact with her date again, opting instead to leave the incident behind her for good. Over the years, Kurek met someone else, and the two have been happily married ever since. Kurek commented that anyone going on a first date should always “trust your gut instinct.”

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