It is difficult to imagine that there’s any silver lining to being run over by an 18-wheel truck, but one former Manhasset resident has transformed a life-threatening accident into an uplifting memoir.
Katie McKenna, a Manhasset High School alumna and current Brooklyn resident, was struck and run over by eight wheels of a vehicle in October of 2008 while riding her bicycle one afternoon. The incident nearly took her life and prompted a range of serious injuries including a fractured pelvis, broken ribs, punctured lungs, injured bladder and internal bleeding.
McKenna was expected to never regain the ability to walk, but a lengthy recovery process and her unfaltering willpower allowed her to enjoy complete rehabilitation. She recalls the outpouring of support and concern from the Manhasset community and her friends, family and neighbors.
It was during her months in the hospital and time within her parents’ care in their Manhasset home that the survivor began writing about her experience in order to internalize and make sense of it all. Years later, the recounted journey of tragedy, recovery and self-discovery would become her current memoir, titled How to Get Run Over by a Truck, which has already sold more than 2,500 copies since its publication in October.
The first-time writer will be doing a reading at the Dolphin Bookstore at 299 Main St. in Port Washington on Oct. 13. For more information about the memoir, visit www.inkshares.com/books/how-to-get-run-over-by-a-truck.
