CITY OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Hannah Rowland, the Twin City Ambulance EMT who tells me she nearly died after being hit by a car while on the job, is now at home recovering from her injuries.
December 26, the day after Christmas, was a normal workday for Rowland.
The 21-year-old EMT was working alongside her co-worker, another EMT, when the two pulled over to help a driver on the side of the I-290’s off-ramp to Niagara Falls Boulevard in the Town of Tonawanda.
The problem, the roads that night were covered in ice.
WATCH: ‘Don’t let me die’: Twin City EMT recounts being injured in December crash; provides recovery update
“Another motorist lost control and hit me on my left side. I ended up under the car, pinned. Under the first car, pinned by my leg,” Rowland said.
Suddenly, Rowland was no longer the person helping out somebody in need. She was the patient and in desperate need of help.
“While I was under the car, I called my mom to say goodbye, before I called 911,” Rowland said. “I had a severe laceration, my calf was hanging out of my leg, to the bone on this [right] leg. And a severe laceration on this [left] leg. The laceration comes across the back of my knee, and I also have a puncture wound on the bottom, on my ankle.”
Eventually, another Twin City Ambulance, manned by her own supervisor, showed up at Rowland’s aid.
“I just remember just being like, ‘Please, don’t let me die.’ It was very scary for her, and for me,” Rowland said.
Hannah was eventually rushed to ECMC, where she spent a week in treatment. Doctors and nurses were able to save both her life and her legs.
“I’m so grateful for the ECMC nurses and doctors and the patients that came with, even the first responders,” Rowland said. “I think it’s going to be an uphill battle for a little bit, taking it week-by-week and appointment-by-appointment.”
A friend of hers started a GoFundMe that friends and neighbors donated to in bulk, raising more than $22,000 for her recovery.
Rowland has since closed donations to the GoFundMe page. Instead, she’s asking people to donate to Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo to help other families in need. You can find a link to their donation page here.
She tells me she has a long road to recovery, but she plans to work again as an EMT as soon as she is able.
