News
After recovering from a near-fatal accident, Lisa Yaffe '93 can proudly claim the distinguished honor of graduating twice from Dartmouth as an undergraduate.
In August of 1991, Yaffe's sophomore summer, she was turning a corner on her bike when she was struck by a truck carrying a house and traveling at 55 miles per hour, she said.
"It is ironic to say I was lucky because it is not lucky to get hit by a truck, but there was such a lucky string of circumstances working in my favor," Yaffe said.
She was wearing a helmet when she was caught between the bike and the truck's grill, and two trauma physicians happened to be in a car behind the truck and helped sustain Yaffe when she suffered one cardiac arrest at the accident site and another in the ambulance.
Yaffe awoke from a coma after five weeks, having incurred brain damage that doctors believed would prevent her from completely regaining her mental and physical faculties, she said.
"I think my parents were so strong ... to have to hear such horrible things about their pride and joy," Yaffe said.
She spent nearly a year in rehabilitation, regaining her speech and basic motor skills.
"My balance is still not as stable as it was, and I have lost the hand-eye coordination required in team sports," said Yaffe, who was a lacrosse recruit.