WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Nearly 10 years ago, Brittney Garrett was driving across the twin bridges over Lake Waco when a momentary distraction changed her life.
A Central Texas woman’s life-changing story of survival(Courtesy)
Garrett, then 24, said her phone went off during a storm. She reached for it, her truck veered and struck the side of the bridge at highway speed. The safety barrier stopped the vehicle, but Garrett fell through a hole ripped into the underside of the pickup and plunged into the frigid water below.
“I remember falling backwards, and I did a back flip in the water,” Garrett said. “It knocked me out at that time. Then I remember swimming back up to the surface. I woke up on a log.”
She landed at least 100 yards from shore, in the middle of the night during freezing rain. Knocked unconscious and disoriented, she said her survival instincts kicked in.
“At that given moment, the only person I could think about was my son,” she said. “I thought I was never going to see my son again because of a careless mistake of checking my phone.”
A Central Texas woman’s life-changing story of survival(Courtesy)
Garrett said she swam to shore and made her way to a caretaker’s RV near the entrance to Twin Bridges Park to get help. Medical responders found her hypothermic and bruised from head to toe. She was treated at a hospital and released.
The physical injuries healed, but Garrett said the accident left deeper scars. She spent years struggling with post-traumatic stress and turned to alcohol to cope.
“Mentally, it took me some time,” she said. “It took me down a dark road. I was close to losing my job and didn’t have a place to live.”
With support from her employer, Garrett entered treatment. She said she attended residential programs in Bastrop and later in Colorado and spent time in a recovery house after leaving rehab.
“I went to rehab for 95 days,” Garrett said. “I was in a sober house for about 18 months, and I just now got my own place in July.”
A Central Texas woman’s life-changing story of survival(Courtesy)
She said she has been sober since leaving treatment in September 2023. Today she works at Amazon, has repaired relationships with family and colleagues, and says life with her son is the best it has been.
“My life now is amazing,” she said. “I would say my relationship with my parents, the people I work with — my son’s healthy. Life is really great.”
Garrett has turned her experience into purpose, helping others in recovery and encouraging newcomers at meetings.
“Helping people helps me,” she said. “I feel like that’s what God maybe saved me for.”
She still drives across the twin bridges about 15 times a week and said she rarely thinks about the accident. The 10th anniversary of the crash is coming up in March; Garrett said she does not regret what happened, but she doesn’t plan to mark the date.
“It’s made me who I am,” she said.
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