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Hello From The Other Side: How Melyssa Ford Found A Deeper Healing After Surviving A Devastating Car Accident
By Britni Danielle · Updated July 13, 2019
Home · Magazine

Hello From The Other Side: How Melyssa Ford Found A Deeper Healing After Surviving A Devastating Car Accident

By Britni Danielle·Updated July 13, 2019
We spoke to four incredibly brave women about how they healed, physically and emotionally, after tragedy struck. This is part one.

Melyssa Ford had so much going for her—a successful career as a model and TV personality, a loyal fan base and a positive outlook on life. But all of that changed on June 28, 2018, when her SUV was clipped by an 18-wheeler and her car went careening down a California highway. Though she doesn’t remember much about the accident, the physical effects and the emotional trauma of the crash are still with her today. 

“It comes back in dreams—the sounds of metal scraping on the pavement, which is one of the most horrible sounds in the world,” she says. Ford fractured her skull, suffering a massive concussion, bleeding on her brain and a traumatic brain injury. “I had to walk with a walker for about a month,” she recalls. “I just could not right myself or stand on my own. Lying down felt like I was being submerged in water. It was this weird sensation of almost dry drowning, which is an awful feeling.” Though she’s lucky to be alive, her recovery has been difficult, and it came with a debilitating new challenge: severe depression. “It was the most frightening experience of my entire life because I truly could not see tomorrow,” Ford admits. “I actively thought about suicide.” 

View this post on Instagram

I’m battling Depression. Crushing, malignant Depression. It was always there; it’s just been made a little worse because of the head trauma from the crash. There are days where simple tasks takes the effort of 40 men; mornings where I’m unhappy to wake and see the sun because it’s another day spent listlessly looking for solid meaning in life. The guilt I feel at having survived and not feeling constant gratitude is a heavy weight to bear. I’m trying to jump back into my life but it feels like there are two Me’s: Before and After the crash. And I barely know who Before Me is anymore. Trying to seek help feels like drowning in a strong current with a lifeline swinging right above your head. I say all this to say check in with your ‘strongest friend’… no one ever does.

A post shared by Melyssa (@melyssaford) on Sep 22, 2018 at 1:13pm PDT

With the aid of a physical therapist and a psychologist and the support of friends like radio and TV host Claudia Jordan, who started an online fund-raiser to help cover Ford’s massive medical bills, Ford has been able to piece her life back together. “For me, recovery is just getting back into the gym, developing overall strength, ­improving upon flexibility,” she says. “I also have to do cognitive therapy and memory exercises because my memory is just terrible.”

So many people are suffering in silence as I chose to do for so long. Now I try to be more open.”

At 42, Ford didn’t believe in sharing every single moment of her life on social media. But when she opened up about her struggles with depression and her journey back to health, it was only to help her heal. “I’ve spent the better part of my life hiding when I was in pain,” Ford says. “I had this mantra that I used to repeat to myself ever since I was young: ‘Never let them see you shook—never.’ That did not work anymore. I was up against something I wasn’t prepared for.”

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As a Scorpio, we think about Life and Death a lot. Being the sign of Death and Rebirth, we contemplate our mortality frequently, which is why I think we also seem to constantly search for a deeper perspective, in the hopes of transforming to reach our higher Selves. Having an experience that brought me as close to death as I have ever been, I’ve spent the months in recovery thinking A LOT. About the way I want to live the rest of the life God spared and what I have to offer, having been given this chance by Our Creator to discover a greater purpose. But it’s also made me think about LOVE. The outpouring of LOVE I’ve felt the last few months, not just from friends and family but the ways total strangers have supported me in messages left in email and DMs and comments; sharing their own painful stories as a way to create a sense of solidarity with me… man, I don’t know what else to say other than my birthday wish is for YOUR peace, happiness, safety, health and abundance. The pic I chose is an example of LOVE. My two Scorpio Sisters @iamalesharenee and @rocsidiaz in my hospital room trying to raise my spirits with some pampering. I ❤️ them and I ❤️ all of you.

A post shared by Melyssa (@melyssaford) on Nov 7, 2018 at 7:51am PST

She soon discovered that being so transparent about her vulnerabilities was helping others deal with their own challenges. “The outpouring of support from total strangers and Instagram friends and just everybody was amazing,” she says. “I’m so grateful for it. It made me realize that I need to be a lot more vocal about what I’m going through because so many people are suffering in silence as I chose to do for so long. Now I try to be more open.” Turns out that letting people see her fears has become a powerful part of her healing.

This profile appeared as part of a larger story inside the July/August 2019 issue of ESSENCE. Check back next week read the next incredible survivor story.



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