The Beginning

My name is Tess Sunderland and I am 26 years old. I grew up in Leawood Kansas and I went to Shawnee Mission East high school for 2 years and then transferred to Barstow (a private school in Missouri) for the last 2 years. I went to Colorado College in Colorado Springs and got my BA in Anthropology and my minor in Art History. I was based in a little town up the mountain from Colorado Springs called Manitou Springs. Since I graduated college about 3 years before, I had been working various CRM [cultural resource management] archaeology jobs that took me all over (eastern Colorado, western Kansas, Wyoming, New Mexico, ect.). I'm kinda a nerd, I love being an archaeologist- there's something that I think is amazing about discovering something that hasn't been seen for hundreds of years! I have MANY interests: I love being outdoors and doing extreme sports like rock climbing, kayaking and snowboarding to name a few. I also love all animals because they don't scream and make poopy diapers: my favorites are dogs, monkeys, and horses (gosh I sound like a dork, oh well). I also love movies (my favorite is Jurassic Park) all different kinds of music except for country (right now my favorites are Kings of Leon, Radiohead and Ray Lamontane) but it's kinda subject to change depending on how I feel at the current time...
Anyway, about the accident, I had just started working for a company in New Mexico (previously I had worked for one based in Utah and one based in Colorado). It was my first day on the new job and I guess a lightning bolt came out of no where and struck me. All of this I've been told since I can't remember about a week before and several after. And maybe that's a good thing because I don't think I want to remember such a traumatic event. I guess finally the paramedics came and thank god a coworker knew CPR because he saved my life until the paramedic got there! I guess I needed CPR for about a half hour and after that they took me to the ICU at UNM. I was there for about a month and then I was taken to a hospital in Denver, and then I was moved to the connecting rehab hospital. Finally, I went to a rehab facility in Nebraska called Quality Living Inc. This blog will unfold my story...