Annette Mertz, 60, looks at her reflection after styling her hair on Oct. 23, 2023 at her home in Apex, N.C.
Annette Mertz continues to suffer a traumatic brain injury following a devastating car accident in Florida in Jan., 2023. Had Mertz been transported to the hospital only a few minutes later, she might not have lived. During the accident, the placement of Mertz’s eyes were changed, resulting in her eyes being crossed. Although she can see perfectly from both eyes, her eyesight is crossed in two opposite directions.
“God was not done with me yet, there is so much more left to my story,” Mertz says.
Mertz rubs the stomach of her daughter, Jessica Mertz, who is expected to give birth to her first child in mid-December. The day of the car accident in January, Mertz was in such bad shape that she was unidentifiable. When Mertz would not answer her phone, Jessica and Terry, Mertz’s sister, both flew to the hospital in Florida to identify Mertz and help her recover after the accident. “I think about how terrifying this whole thing has been for my family, they did not know if I would make it,” Mertz says. Mertz stretches on her floor on Oct. 23, 2023. Mertz lost her job in late October because her brain injury would not allow her to focus and keep up with her typical job tasks. Despite no longer having work obligations, maintaining her morning routine of stretching and journaling is instrumental in healing her brain injury and strengthening her mental wellness. “God works in mysterious ways,” Mertz says. “I think there is something bigger coming my way. I’m not sure what it is. But now I have time to really work on myself and my patience. Anyone can tell you I am not a patient person.” Jessica Mertz inserts a needle into Annette’s leg and performs electro acupuncture at Omnia Paratus Health Training in Apex, N.C. on Oct. 23. Mertz’s right side of her brain was injured, leaving her left leg weak and unable to support her weight. The goal of massaging the muscles in her left leg regularly is to slowly reactivate the nerves in Mertz’s leg, and hopefully her brain, over time.Mertz pulls weights as her daughter, Jessica, and her son in law, Rick Plona, support her at Omnia Parts Health Training. Prior to the car accident, Mertz was a physical trainer. The surgeons who recovered her from the accident marveled at her physical fitness, remarking that if she had not been in such great shape, she would not have survived the accident. She has since switched roles to being the trainee as she attends her daughter’s gym multiple times a week, which has helped propel her recovery at unprecedented speed. “My goal is to carry the baby on my own without scaring Jessica,” Mertz says. “I think I would be devastated if I can’t lift the baby.”Mertz stands in the doorway of her home on the morning of Nov. 3 before leaving to receive her long-awaited eye surgery at Duke Eye Center. Mertz was hopeful that the surgery would finally straighten both of her eyes, and that not only her appearance would return to what it once was before the accident, but that she would be able to see straight and balance normally again. “I feel like I’m going on a date!” Mertz said excitedly with a smile spread across her face.A nurse at Duke Eye Center wheels Mertz to her car following her eye surgery on Nov. 3 in Durham, N.C. “I haven’t been this high since high school,” Mertz joked as she waned off the anesthesia.Following the eye surgery, Mertz’s eyes were straightened temporarily, but weeks of bloodshot eyes, blurry vision, and drooping eyelids introduce a new healing process on top of her brain injury. This is not Mertz’s first time having to rebuild her life and her outlook from the ground up after the accident. “It’s all about clearing out the clutter and learning how to build a new foundation,” Mertz says. “What was normal to me before does not even matter to me anymore. Normal means being able to function the best I can.”Mertz reads the extensive list of medicines she must take every day for a month following her eye surgery. “It makes me want to poke my eyes out,” Mertz jokes.Mertz describes what her eyesight is like to her friend, Sue, in Apex, N.C. on Nov. 19. “I feel like I am on a bad acid trip or something,” Mertz says. It is difficult for Mertz to leave her house on her own, and she can only walk short distances with another person to assist her in case she falls. Mertz was hopeful that by the end of the year she would be able to achieve full independence again, but she will need another eye surgery and months more of mental and physical recovery before she can be on her own.Mertz applies drops to her eyes as she lays down to sleep on Nov. 7. She sleeps with a stuffed monkey, which she originally used following the car accident to support her head as she slept, as she could not move her neck. “Keeping things simple brings me joy now,” Mertz says. “But I do miss being around people, getting to know them, them getting to know me.”Mertz sits in her home with Jessica, who is expected to deliver her first child in the coming month, on Dec. 2. “There are no freaking guarantees for anything,” Mertz says. “This moment we are in is the only guarantee we have in life.”Mertz smiles as her sister, Terry, holds her new granddaughter, Elliana, at one month old on Jan. 27, 2024, one year since the car accident that changed Mertz’s life.
