A woman whose labium was torn off after her abusive boyfriend threw her off a speeding truck finally has her sex drive back and is hoping to start a family.
Megan Torio, from Jacksonville, Florida, was left paralyzed by the horrific incident, with doctors warning she would never walk again.
As well as a sliced left labium, which left her unable to have sex for a year, she suffered a broken back, shoulder, collarbone and six ribs — one more and she’d have died.
After the accident, Megan, 28, threw herself into her rehabilitation and slowly began to rebuild her strength.
Having suffered years of horrible abuse from her ex-partner, she was left feeling jaded about men and refused to even think about dating for over a year.
But in March 2011, she met now-husband Ron Torio, 38, and the couple are looking to have children.
Megan said, “I was nervous about having sex again. I was done with men. I thought no man would be interested in me.
“But I now have my sex drive back.
“Ron and I want children and I think we’ll start trying for a family later this year.
“I’ve been humbled by this experience. I will live in chronic pain and I miss running and dancing in high heels, but I’m very happy to be alive. I could have died that day.
“I continue to get stronger and better every day.”
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Prior to the accident, Megan had always been a keen gym-goer, having shed 100 pounds after gaining weight in her teens.
But in June 2010, she was thrown from her then-boyfriend’s truck while traveling at 65 mph, slamming into a speed sign.
After paramedics arrived, she was rushed to Halifax Hospital in Daytona, Florida, where doctors assessed her injuries.
Megan recalled: “I was awake and remember the whole thing. I couldn’t breathe as my ribs were broken.
“I blacked out at the hospital due to the pain.”
Once she was at the hospital, doctors discovered the extent of her horrifying injuries.
She had 18 hours of surgery to realign her back with metal rods, followed by a separate procedure to construct her new labium.
Megan explained: “They took skin from my back to make me a new labium, and you would never know in a million years I’d had surgery there.
“I had 15 stitches put in and was swollen for a fortnight.
“I was told I would never walk again.
“I was devastated. I’d been so independent, so this was a big deal.
“I’d lost the use of my bowels and bladder and was given a catheter.
“I felt hopeless.”
After a month, Megan was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for physiotherapy.
Though there was no guarantee she would ever walk again, she decided to buy a walker to help her get around during her recovery.
Having reached her physical peak a year previously, she was determined to get back on her feet.
After a difficult childhood, Megan turned to food to cope, and by age 19, she weighed 210 pounds.
When a friend mistook her for being pregnant, she joined a gym, where she attended cardio, spin and weight classes twice a day.
Within a year, she’d slimmed to 110 pounds and planned to pursue a career as a fitness model, but her dream was crushed after the accident.
Despite being barely able to walk, Megan headed to the gym after she was discharged.
She said: “I wanted to work on my legs. They were my favorite part of my body — long and lean.
“I put myself on the weight press. I knew I wouldn’t be able push it, but I wanted to pretend to.
“I wanted that ‘pushing’ feeling.”
But the workout left her in excruciating pain and she was rushed to a hospital, where doctors discovered her left quad muscle was twitching.
Megan explained: “It was only moving about an inch, but it seemed like a miracle.
“My surgeon asked, ‘What did you do?’
“After I told him about the gym, he said the twitch was all we needed to give us hope I’d have more mobility in my wheelchair.
“This was from a man who never gave me high hopes.”
The pain was caused by her nerves and quad muscles growing back — the harder she pushed herself at the gym, the more they developed.
Despite being wheelchair-bound and in agonizing pain, Megan continued with her strenuous regime until she was strong enough to ask her neurosurgeon to remove the rods in her back.
She began to wonder whether she could stand after all, despite what she’d been told.
Megan said: “One day I picked up my walker I’d bought during physio and thought, ‘What the heck, what do I have to lose?’
“I put my body weight on my left side. I had sweat running down my forehead from the pain.
“I stood up for a few seconds before sitting down. It felt weird and I was light-headed, but it was contagious. I wanted to do it again.”
Day after day, Megan tried standing again until she reached a point where she was able to stay on her feet for two minutes.
She then pushed herself to start taking steps, and before long, she was walking around the gym.
In 2011, she bought a cane to help her get around, and that March met her now-husband, after a friend played Cupid.
Megan was so anxious about the date that she almost canceled — but luckily, a friend persuaded her to go.
She admitted: “I thought no one would be interested in me. I was paraplegic and didn’t feel like a woman.
“I was embarrassed about being in a wheelchair, so I used my walker on our first date to walk from the car into the restaurant.
“On our second date, I was determined to use my cane.
“Though I was sweating and in a lot of pain, I wanted to show I was an independent woman and I didn’t need a man to look after me.
“After that, Rod encouraged me to use my cane. He was so supportive. He’s a good guy.”
Megan continued to go from strength to strength, regaining use of her bladder and bowels, until on her 25th birthday, a year after she was told she’d never walk again, she decided to stop using her cane.
She said: “We were going out to a restaurant to celebrate, and I wanted to walk on my own.
“It wasn’t pretty, and I think you’d have been able to tell something was wrong, but I woke up the morning of my birthday and decided I wouldn’t use my cane anymore.”
Megan managed to stand for her wedding photos and doctors have told her she is able to have children — and her sex drive has returned.
Speaking about her ordeal, she explained: “Miracles aren’t handed to you on a silver plate, you have to work for them.
“I think I was in denial that I would never walk again and I think that’s what got me to where I am now.
“After I was finally able to walk on my own, without a frame or cane, I went to see my surgeon and he was in tears.
“I believe in mind over matter and getting what you want.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun.
