ROCKFORD, Mich. — A West Michigan woman is crediting an auto accident with helping to save her life after a tumor was discovered in her brain.
Back on Feb. 17, Dawn Dulyea was on her way to a physical therapy appointment for an arm injury.
She was on Northland Drive, approaching 14 Mile Road, when a field truck she was behind slammed on their brakes to avoid another vehicle coming through the intersection.
"I can't see the traffic light, but I'm paying attention to the vehicles in front of me,” she told FOX 17 Thursday.
“Before I knew it, I was in the back end of that field truck. ... Car is totaled ... I'm pinned inside the vehicle.”
She says that police officers who arrived on scene after the crash thought she was under the influence of something.
"I had an officer come up, get right in my face, and accused me of being on heroin and meth," she explained.
She says she was not on any sort of substance — though she may have been acting off because of what was unbeknownst to her going on with her brain.
She was taken to Corewell Health in Greenville, where they performed a CAT scan on the lower portion of her body.
They found that she had fractured her sternum.
She was sent back home but continued to deteriorate.
“As days went by, I couldn't do up my pants, couldn't do up my shirt, can't take a shower, couldn't eat ... nothing,” she said.
Eventually she was brought back to the hospital for a CAT scan on her head.
She returned home after that scan, but about an hour after leaving the hospital she received a frantic call from staff.
"They said it was a matter of life and death. ... They said, 'You have to get back.'”
Transported to Corewell Health in downtown Grand Rapids, Dawn is eventually brought up to speed with what doctors had discovered.
“He says, 'We have to watch you very, very closely until the surgeon gets in. You have to have emergency brain surgery ... and then they showed me the pictures.”
"Honestly, they said this accident was a blessing, because they said I could have been gone within a day or two ... or within seconds, if I made the wrong move,” she explained.
In May, they were able to remove the tumor. Doctors found that it was not cancerous.
“I can't do showers by myself because I've been falling a lot. ... Very lightheaded ... I got my vision back most of the way,” she said.
“My hearing still is not there, and no taste and smell, really ... and they don't know why.”
With her youngest daughter now acting as her caregiver, Dawn is doing her best to keep her spirits up, and remain grateful that the tumor was found when it was.
“So yeah, I'm blessed that happened.”
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