DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — More than a month after she was struck by a car while exiting her ambulance, Heather Haynes says she's focusing on the positive.
On August 17, Lexington Police say, Nathan Fowler, 36, was driving a Ford Mustang and crashed it into Haynes as she was getting out of the ambulance in the parking lot of the Lowes Boulevard Walmart.
"I just started screaming, and then my partner he came and helped me and called for help," Haynes told WFMY News 2 in an interview earlier this month, "I don’t really remember anything after that except for getting in the helicopter."
After several surgeries, doctors gave Haynes the news that they'd have to amputate part of her right leg, below the knee.
"People...they’re trying to be nice and they’re like, 'oh it’s just a leg. You can get a prosthetic, and things like that,'" she said.
"I understand that from other people's perspective. But from mine, it's that I’ve had it for 29 years, and now I’m trying to deal without it. And it sucks, but I’m moving forward."
Now out of the hospital, she's waiting to heal completely and get the stitches out, before she gets a prosthetic.
"It’s going to give me some independence back," she said. Haynes says she's choosing to look ahead instead of dwelling on the crash.
"I’m trying not to think about it a whole lot because it brings back bad memories. So, I’m trying to move forward and not really worry about it, and try and get on with life," she said.
"Because if I just think about it... it doesn’t help anything or anybody."
Haynes' goals are the same as before, she wants to get better and get back to work as soon as possible.
Fowler was arrested and charged with Careless and Reckless Driving, Driving While Impaired, Felony Hit and Run and two counts of Assault With a Deadly Weapon on Emergency Personnel.
He was booked into the Davidson County Detention Center on August 21, a couple of days after was treated at a Lexington hospital, according to detectives.