SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — Two Utah sisters who were critically injured when a suspected drunk driver hit them along an Arizona highway are making miraculous progress.
We first brought you the story of Sabrina and Jessica Wilhite in November.
Nearly three months later, their father Brent took to GoFundMe to share the good news. The community has helped them raise nearly $100,000 on this road to recovery.
“This whole experience has definitely been the biggest challenge of my life,” said Sabrina Wilhite.
She may wish she couldn’t, but Sabrina says she remembers everything from the night of the crash.
“We were headed home to go visit family, to go do all these fun activities that we’d been looking forward to,” Sabrina said.
Sabrina and her sister Jessica were on the road to Thanksgiving break, on a night that seemed like any other.
“When all of a sudden, a car just came out from the dark with no headlights and turned right in front of us,” said Sabrina.
This family had dedicated so much time to driver safety with the Zero Fatalities program.
“Now, I was the person in the driver’s seat,” Sabrina said.
It’s forced Sabrina into some difficult and dark places.
“It’s a little bit bizarre being a 25-year-old and talking about ‘Okay, how am I going to walk again? Let’s learn how to stand up again,’” said Sabrina.
Even despite losing an arm in the accident…she keeps positive and keeps progressing.
“I love my left arm, because amputating it is what helped me to stay alive,” Sabrina said.
In between appointments and x-rays, Sabrina can spend as many as four hours each day in the rehabilitation room, where she uses objects like a pickleball to learn how to use her left arm as she continues her journey towards recovery.
She’s also deciding what she likes to call it.
“Between us, our favorite name is Sabrinub,” said Sabrina as she sat with her father in the rehab room.
She leans on faith and family and finds strength in her sister’s recovery, as well.
“[She’s] moving back to Arizona, going back to work,” Sabrina said. “We can get back to the life we had before.”
Sabrina says her goals now are to look toward her new normal and to find ways to continue with her favorite hobbies, which include drawing, painting and photography.
A long road still lies ahead, but Sabrina is going one step at a time and celebrating all the little wins with her loved ones along the way.
“Even if I stood for 30 seconds longer than I did yesterday or I sat up by myself and I couldn’t do that yesterday,” said Sabrina. “Taking it day by day has really helped me.”
