PHOENIX — On March 25th, 2020, Justina Valdez and her kids were walking to a neighborhood park in north Phoenix. They never made it.
Crossing Morten Avenue at 16th Street, a truck turning left didn’t see them in the crosswalk. When she saw the truck wasn’t going to stop, she pushed the stroller away saving her son and daughter, but got hit by the truck herself.
“My head hit the curb, my elbow was on the street, that was the impact that broke my shoulder,” Valdez said. “I pushed the stroller so hard, it hit the curb over there and flipped over.”
All Valdez remembers from the crash is waking up at the hospital nearly a week later. She says she suffered a skull fracture, and had to have brain surgery to stop brain bleeds. Now, while she appears to be back to normal, but she says she is still recovering in many ways.
“It’s scary,” Valdez said. “It’s not just this crosswalk, it’s every crosswalk. Its been five years and you think it would die down, but it doesn’t.”
Despite the day to day challenges, on Mother’s Day, she says it’s the big picture that matters most.
“I’m just so overwhelmed of gratefulness with being here,” Valdez said. “It’s such a sacred thing to be a mom.”
Now leaving the intersection at 16th Street and Morten Avenue, on Sunday, Valdez and her kids finally got to go to Sumida Park.
“This is the park we were on our way to, and we never made it,” Valdez said. “But we made it five years later.”
On her hospital discharge documents, a nurse wrote “You are a hero”. Looking back now, Valdez says she doesn’t think one heroic makes her the ultimate hero of this story.
“It’s a blessing to be able to save your kids, But to be able to save them and watch them grow everyday, that’s all I hoped for,” Valdez said. “I think I saved them that day but they save me every day.”
