BILLINGS — A woman from the Colstrip area is recovering at a rehab hospital in Billings after being involved in a nearly fatal, single-car crash a month ago.
The woman, 31-year-old Courey Spire, was driving to work around 4:30 a.m. on a dirt road near Colstrip when she lost control, swerved off the road and rolled her truck. Spire suffered multiple injuries, including a broken tailbone, shattered pelvis, broken arm and traumatic head injury.
Spire was unable to move after the accident — forced to lie in the 20-degree weather for a few hours.
"I remember a lot of blood," Spire said. "My face was covered in blood."
Spire said the details are a bit hazy for her.
"I lost control and the last thing I saw was a barbed wire fence," Spire said. "Everything was dark because it was 4:30 in the morning when I crashed."
Spire was thrown from her vehicle, though she doesn't know which window she exited, and she believes she lost consciousness briefly. When she came to, she realized she was unable to move.
"I thought, maybe I could still crawl," Spire said. "I can drag myself to the truck, and I can call for help. When I tried to, I realized my hip and my shoulder were broken."
Helpless, Spire began to fear the worst until her service dog, Lullaby, appeared out of nowhere.
"I'm not sure if she got thrown out of the truck or if she was still in the truck," Spire said. "But she came from the direction of the truck. She came to me, and I knew God was holding her in his hands."
Eventually, someone saw the wreck and pulled over. Lullaby helped the driver find Spire, and she was transported quickly to the hospital.
After being treated at St. Vincent's Healthcare in Billings, she was transferred to the Rehab Hospital of Montana on Hesper Road, where she's been rehabbing her mind and body.
Speech pathologist Veronica Chneider has been working with her for the past two weeks.
"When she first got here, she really struggled with her memory, problem-solving. Her speech was a little wonky," Chneider said. "She's progressed so much since then. We've moved on to a lot more challenging puzzles. I feel like I really have to pull it out of the bag to get something to challenge her."
Her physical therapist Emma Stetzenmeyer said the circumstance was dire when Spire first arrived.
"The first few days, it was tough," Stetzenmeyer said. "Courey was in a lot of pain. We were working on that pain management, balancing functional mobility with what absolutely needed to be done."
Stetzenmeyer, like Chneider, is impressed with her progress.
"It's been really amazing how she's overcome the injuries," Stetzenmeyer said. "She's a fighter."
Both Stetzenmeyer and Chneider said her toughness is outstanding, but her positive mindset has been the most important tool.
“It motivates me. It motivates our other patients," Chneider said. "It motivates everyone who works here, and it’s what we really need."
Perhaps the best example of Spire's positivity is what she told people following her recent birthday.
"I had my birthday in the hospital a few days after the accident," Spire said with a smile. "A lot of people said, 'Oh that's unfortunate you have to spend your day in the hospital' and I said, 'No, it's not because it means I'm alive.'"
But that same positivity can be seen on the windows of the break room at the rehab facility where Spire has drawn and colored murals to spread a little joy with her non-dominant hand.
"The art is like therapy for me," Spire said. "It makes me so happy, and I see people smile when they see them and it just thrills me to no end."
While she still has a long recovery, Spire is dedicated to getting back to doing the things she loves.
"To all my friends and family and the strangers who stopped and the people here who have helped," Spire said. "I'm so grateful."
