< Previous page

"It's an awful feeling to know you can't do simple daily tasks," Mitchell said. "You have enough taken away from you. That little bit of independence means the world to you."

The settlement also assuages her concerns about her future medical needs. "It's nice to know when that time comes, I'll be able to afford the nursing care that I need," she said.

Pain and uncertainty

On Aug. 24, 2003, Elaine Gorski was a passenger in a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer riding along a rural road in Chatham County when a bee distracted the driver and the car rolled.

Gorski cannot move her legs but has partial function of her arms and hands. Her spinal cord was not severed, but compressed; therefore she still has feeling in her legs and experiences a constant level of severe pain.

Trehy, the Raleigh lawyer, said that because Gorski's Blazer was originally purchased six years and four months before the accident, she couldn't sue the automaker.

The accident, Gorski said, took her identity. She loved her job as a financial analyst at Duke Family Medicine Center. She exercised five days a week. She took care of her husband and two daughters.

"It impacts all of your social interactions and everything that you normally do in a day and you don't even think about," she said.

But Gorski said she's blessed to have the support of her family and friends. Her husband, Jeff, is skilled enough to have been able to modify their Chapel Hill home to accommodate her wheelchair. He and some friends installed the wheelchair ramp outside. He redesigned the kitchen, lowering the countertops, sink and plumbing. He has redone her office three times.

The Gorskis went from being a two-income household to Jeff Gorski's being the sole breadwinner. She can no longer work because of her chronic pain. He runs a handyman business and a track-and-field equipment business. But his time to work is limited by having to take care of his wife.

"Nickels and dimes are coming in," Jeff Gorski said. "Tens and twenties are going out.

"Honest to God, at some point, we're probably going to lose our house," he said. "I don't know when."

Elaine Gorski is more worried about their financial future in retirement and when, if ever, her husband will be able to stop working.

"Our lives could have been made a little bit easier if we had been given at least the opportunity to present our case," she said.

Though the legislation may not help her, she hopes it passes.

"In my dream of dreams, I wish there was some way it could help us," she said. "At least if they change this law, it will help somebody else."

< Previous page