‘I learned to live’: Gardens woman’s book details how horrific Key West car crash transformed her life

Palm Beach Post (FL)

PALM BEACH GARDENS - A devastating car accident two years ago spurred Glenis Hargreaves to complete the life story she had spent 20 years writing.

The Palm Beach Gardens insurance adjuster and grandmother of four was critically injured in a near head-on collision in October 2017 as she was driving along U.S. 1 through Key West in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

The driver of the other car deliberately swerved into her, Hargreaves said, leaving her pinned inside her small Prius.

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"I was coming off the bridge and I saw a man, and I locked eyes with this man, and to me, his eyes were lit," said Hargreaves, 54, who was in Key West to help hurricane victims process their insurance claims.

"I got very scared. It was 10 o'clock at night, and he just didn't look right. When the man got two cars away, he (gripped) the wheel. There was no accident. He grabbed the wheel, and he turned it with everything he had and crashed into me."

The impact left Hargreaves with critical injuries, including broken hips and a broken back.

As she waited for medical personnel to arrive, Hargreaves, who was born in the Dominican Republic, made a promise to God.

"I saw the faces of my grandchildren, and I said, 'I'm not dying,'" said Hargreaves, who overcame a difficult childhood, divorce and substance abuse to flourish in her career as an insurance adjuster, recovery specialist and business owner. "The next face I saw was the face of my mother.

"When I saw the people that I loved the most, I said to God that if I was given the opportunity, I would tell my story. I will allow people to come from a place of gratitude. I have gone through a lot of things in my life, but those are the things that have helped me become who I am today."

After the accident, Hargreaves was taken to a hospital on Islamorada and later airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami for emergency surgery.

The man who hit her survived the accident, but died in another car accident three weeks later, also on U.S. 1 in Key West.

Roberto Blasco, 46, was a passenger in a car that was T-boned by a tractor-trailer on Oct. 25, 2017, according to Florida Keys News. The car's driver also died in the accident.

"I believe he was trying to take his life," Hargreaves said of Blasco. "I saw him grab the wheel. It was no accident to me. And then he actually succeeded."

Hargreaves spent six days in intensive care following her accident, and was told by doctors that her recovery would be slow.

Less than three months later, however, she was out of her wheelchair.

"I decided after almost 20 years that I was going to go to the Dominican Republic for Christmas," she said. "After 2 1/2 months, I have videos of me dancing with my family."

As she slowly began resuming her life, Hargreaves focused on finishing her book, "Gratitude Transformation."

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The book, which is available through digital download and in bookstores, is the story of Hargreaves' life and how gratitude has transformed it.

"I lost my life, so I could learn to live," said Hargreaves, who with her husband, Corey, opened a gym - Fitness 4 Everybody - in Palm Beach Gardens a year ago. "My intention with writing this book is that you, yourself, can look at every circumstance of your life - good, bad or indifferent - through the eyes of gratitude."

Hargreaves finished writing her book shortly after her accident, but chose not to publish it immediately.

"I got very scared," she said. "I didn't want to share it with the world."

Hargreaves said she wanted her children to publish the book following her death, but after Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas last month, she changed her mind.

"I was home watching little ones with their moms and dads, and they had no place to go," she said. "I'm in claims, and I know how it was coming at us. We're Floridians, and this thing was coming at us.

"We should be the ones who should be suffering. What was I scared of? My story may not only help someone else, but I can use it."

Hargreaves plans to donate 90 percent of the profits from her book to Bahamas relief efforts, and the other 10 percent to the 12-year-old son of the man who caused her car accident two years ago.

She has been unable to reach the boy's family so far, but she plans to keep a portion of the profits in a trust for his use.

"I want that money to be for him," she said.

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@JRWagner5

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