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Paralyzed in van crash, she's getting GED By Rob Zaleski May 30, 2003
And she remembers - "well, this is going to sound really conceited," Forgues says with a smile, "but I remember looking at my mom and saying, 'Is my face OK?' And she was so nice about it. She said, 'Yes, honey, your face is fine.' And so I went back to sleep." Of course, Forgues says, nobody had to tell her the worst news. She realized the moment she came out of her coma that she couldn't move from her neck down - and that in all likelihood she was paralyzed. But, over time, she's learned to accept being a quadriplegic. The accident, she maintains now, at age 19, was a "blessing in disguise." "Before that, I was really wild," she says in the living room of her mother's modest three-bedroom home on the northeast side. "I'd run away all the time and do stupid kid stuff. And I either would have gotten AIDS or ended up dead." But while she's still angry at the magazine company, now called Atlantic Coast, for the way it treated its employees - lawsuits filed against the company by the victims' families are still pending - she's somehow managed to cast aside much of her bitterness and focus on her future. Which is why Thursday evening, June 12, promises to be one of the most exciting nights of her young life. That's when Forgues - along with 56 others - will receive her general equivalency diploma from Omega School in ceremonies at the Doyle Administration Building, 545 W. Dayton St. And she's not about to stop there. By the end of summer, she hopes to have her high school equivalency diploma, which is a step above the GED and includes an employability development plan. And then she intends to enroll at Madison Area Technical College and take courses in Web design and computer programming. That she's actually earned her GED - and in just one year - is "nothing short of remarkable," says Oscar Mireles, Omega's executive director, who more than once has taken time out from his own duties to pick up Forgues at her home and take her to classes. He notes that she's still struggling with her short-term memory and still coping with the side effects of the many drugs she's on. What's more, she must still rely on others - notably, her mom, her aunt and her boyfriend Chris Boyce, also 19 - to perform the simplest tasks, whether it's eating or bathing or, as was the case last week, pausing every few minutes for a drag of a cigarette. What it proves, Mireles says, is the value of a positive attitude. But keep in mind, he adds, that Forgues never would have accomplished all this had it not been for the unwavering support of her mother, Nancy Ashton, who quit her job as a laboratory technician to care for her daughter full-time. Ashton doesn't disagree, but marvels at the many obstacles that her daughter's overcome on her own. "I hope that she's a role model for kids in her situation, who think there's no future for them," Ashton says. Monica, for her part, says there's no question she couldn't have made it this far without the help of others, but says most of her motivation has come from within. Quite simply, "I didn't want to be ignorant or illiterate," she says. "I knew I needed some sort of education." To be sure, there are still some daunting obstacles ahead. There's also a slim possibility that one day soon researchers will find a way to heal broken spinal cords and that Forgues will regain the use of her legs. But she's not counting on it and insists, "It doesn't really matter to me anymore." What matters, she says, is that she somehow beat the odds and earned her GED. Says Mireles, "This is one tough girl." madison.com is operated by Madison Newspapers Inc., publishers of the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, Agri-View and Apartment Showcase. All contents Copyright ©, Madison Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved. madison.com Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. |
| Monica Forgues, Nancy Ashton, Amber Lettman, Bonnie Lettman, Marshall Roberts, Malinda Turvey, Crystal McDaniel, Cory Hanson, Peter Christman, Joseph Wild, Jeremy Holmes, Choan Lane, Karleen Hillery, janesville wisconsin, van accident, van crash, traffic death, selling magazines, door to door sales crew, traveling sales crews, traveling magazine sales crew, direct sales, dangerous teen job, traveling sales recruitment, slave labor, sweatshops, traveling salesmen, traveling magazine sales crew, crimes against teens, crimes against youth, selling magazines door to door, abused children, abused teens, exploited teens, teen labor, fatal van accident, fatal van crash, magazine publishers, magazine clearinghouse, silent killer of teens and young adults, national tragedy |
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