Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

'She's made an incredible comeback'

After suffering what doctors described as 'internal decapitation,' Sandra Hill is back to work – and life – and is thankful for her second chance

By Craig Crosby ccrosby@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

Sandra Hill just isn’t the same since the accident that nearly claimed her life.

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Sandra Hill, bar manager at Cloud 9 restaurant at the Senator Inn & Spa in Augusta, is thankful to be alive after being critically injured in an automobile accident last February.

Photo by Jeff Pouland

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Sure, she shuffles a little bit when she walks and her head sometimes tilts to the side, which is to be expected from someone whose back essentially now is made of metal. But the biggest change in Hill is only noticeable when you sit down to talk with her, and quickly find your apprehension over talking about her health disappearing amid snorts of laughter.

“She’s made an incredible comeback,” said Lisa Quimby, Hill’s friend of 20 years. “She’s exactly the same as far as personality. The only thing different is she’s even funnier than she was before.”

Hill, 49, is back working 20 hours per week as bar manager at the Senator Inn’s Cloud 9, where she has worked for the past 24 years.

Hill was on her way to work on Feb. 7 when her Volkswagen Beetle was T-boned by a Dodge Durango at the intersection of State and Bridge streets in Augusta.

She was flown by a LifeFlight of Maine helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where doctors discovered she had broken five vertebrae, including two in her neck and three around the middle of her back. She suffered what doctors described as an internal decapitation, and was kept alive on life support.

Quimby, a bartender at Cloud 9 for the past 20 years, and another of Hill’s friends pretended to be family members so they could see Hill. Doctors told them to prepare for the worst.

“There were a lot of lives changed that day,” Quimby said. “Everybody loves Sandy. It’s like (nearly) losing one of your family.”

“I’m not supposed to be here,” Hill said. “The scar starts at the top of my head and goes to the middle of my back. The doctor told me the only thing holding my head on was skin.”

Hill remained at CMMC for three months before moving to Gray Birch rehabilitation and nursing center in Augusta. She remained there for another three months before returning home.

Hill’s head was immobilized in a halo for three months. She still points to the scars near her eyebrows were the screws were drilled to keep everything in place.

Hill spent the next three months in a hard collar, which forced her chin upward at an awkward angle, and the quarter-year after that in a soft collar.

She admits now that there were dark days, days she wondered if it was worth it.

“I didn’t thank the surgeon until 9 months later for saving my life because I wasn’t sure I was happy he did,” Hill said. “When I did thank him, he said, ‘It’s about time.’”

Hill recently visited a psychologist and was surprised to learn she suffered minor brain damage during the accident. The diagnosis was based on Hill’s inability to place blocks in a proper order.

“They say I have a brain injury on my left side, but it’s nothing I need for work, unless they ask me to stack blocks,” Hill said. “And who’s to say I didn’t have it before? They never tested me.”

Hill has met a lot of people over two decades of waiting tables, and she looks at her Senator co-workers as family. But she is still touched by the outpouring of love and support offered to her since the accident. The generosity has stretched from Lafayette Hotels, which owns the Senator, to co-workers and friends — more than 300 of whom showed up for an April fundraiser for Hill. The money raised during the event helped keep Hill afloat through 10 months without a paycheck.

“The benefit really helped me,” she said. “It kept a roof over my head. I was very touched.”

Hill still can’t reach for the glasses over the bar or carry a tray, but she is getting better all the time.

“I’m never going to be 100 percent, but I’ll be okay,” she said. “And God willing, I’ll be back on the golf course.”

Hill’s surgeon has asked her why she thinks she survived. Hill still hasn’t given him an answer.

“They say you have something to do yet,” Hill said. “I just haven’t figured out what it is.”

Quimby jokes that Hill survived because the bar simply cannot function without her. But Quimby thinks the real reason Hill is still here is because nobody is ready to let her go.

“She makes the world a better place,” Quimby said. “She really does.”