Caroline Vandergriff, the News 14 Carolina reporter who was hit by a car in January while covering a story, recently sat down on set to talk to morning anchor Rob Boisvert about the accident and her road back to reporting.
Vandergriff says she had been working at the station for about six weeks when she was hit by a car while grabbing some footage of power lines downed during a rain storm.
“Basically the part that was the most severe was with brain injuries you never know how its going to go,” Vandergriff told Boisvert after he asked how badly she was injured. “That first 48 hours things can go south pretty quickly. So my parents in Texas, they got the phone call that the neurologist wasn’t sure if I would make it through the night.”
Vandergriff, who said she was in a wheelchair for two months after the accident said the hardest part of her recovery was “getting up in the morning when you’re just hurting so bad.”
But she told Boisvert the accident changed her perspective. “You know as a journalist you cover stories everyday where people’s lives change in an instant and then for it to happen to you,” said Vandergriff. “I think that will give me further understanding in my job.” She continued saying the uncertainty taught her to appreciate her life more.
Vandergriff said she is still undergoing physical therapy, but is thankful to be back at work. “I’m so glad to be here. It’s been the fight of my life to get back here. This was always the goal so its so awesome to be here.”
Click here to watch the interview. The News 14 website doesn’t allow embedding.