By Kyle Lawson
Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK — A catastrophic injury resulting from a crash in 2022 robbed Ashley Diaz of her leg, and her livelihood as a first responder.
Her fighting spirit, however, remains somehow intact.
Amid what’s proven to be a grueling recovery process, Diaz, of New Dorp, continues to save lives in a new role with the FDNY, while at the same time raising a 7-year-old son as a single mother.
“Despite this personal tragedy, Ashley’s continued work as an FDNY EMT illustrates her deep commitment to helping the people of New York and we are grateful for her service,” said Oren Barzilay, president of the Local 2507 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.
On Thursday night, Diaz will be honored in a “union salute” during a gala celebrating the 50th anniversary of EMS in New York City. The event will be held at the Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows, Queens.
Her story, said Barzilay, continues to “inspire the men and women of FDNY EMS.”
First years as EMT, new mom
Diaz, 32, joined the FDNY in 2017. As an EMT, she was assigned to Coney Island where she responded to everything from narcotics overdoses to “hot jobs” including shootings and stabbings.
“I absolutely loved it,” said Diaz. “And when you get that one call when you legitimately help save someone’s life, that was the most rewarding for me.”
Her dream was to become a paramedic, then ultimately a nurse. Her brother works as a firefighter in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, during her first years on the job, Diaz doubled as a new mom.
She explained that she learned she was pregnant with her son several months into the FDNY EMS academy.
And while she sorely misses the adrenaline of riding in an ambulance, and the gratification of saving a person’s life, she said there’s three things she loves even more: Her son, her FDNY colleagues and life itself.
“Having a motivator to keep you going is the most important thing, whether it’s another person or a personal goal,” she said.
Life changed in an instant
Everything changed for Diaz on the afternoon of Sept. 15, 2022.
She was loading belongings into her car outside her mother’s house on Locust Avenue in New Dorp, when a car operated by a then 34-year-old woman slammed into her.
“She came out of nowhere,” said Diaz. “I remember being on the ground and seeing my leg.”
She also remembers her mother screaming, and having to instruct a first responder who was trying to apply a tourniquet. That’s when, to her relief, an ambulance arrived with an EMT who she recognized. It was the husband of her former partner at EMS Station 43 in Coney Island .
“He didn’t recognize me,” she said. “I told him ‘you can’t let me die here, you know I have a son.’”
She remembers cracking a few jokes in the ambulance — while still in the throes of post-traumatic shock — before blacking out.
Upon arriving at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, doctors placed her in a medically-induced coma.
As she lay unconscious, the local EMS community waited anxiously for news of her condition. “On the day of her incident, the hospital was filled with EMS personnel praying for her survival,” recalled Barzilay.
When Diaz awoke in her hospital bed, she remembers thinking — for reasons she can’t explain — that she had received plastic surgery. “I was very volatile apparently, asking ‘why is everyone here?’” she said laughing.
Initially, her family was hesitant to tell her the doctors removed a portion of her leg, below the knee. “Everyone was skating around it,” she recalled.
When she did learn what happened: “Whoo,” she exclaimed. “That was a day.”
During a two-month stay in the hospital, she was treated for several other injuries that included a broken pelvis, arm and jaw. She also lost several front teeth.
When she was discharged from the hospital with her young son, it was to the fanfare of dozens of FDNY EMS workers who lined the path. Though it was not her last trip to the hospital.
To date, she has undergone 13 surgeries as a result of her injuries.
A GoFundme page set up in the years after the incident raised more than $150,000 for medical expenses, a prosthetic, child care for her son and retrofitting her home to fit her needs.
“Outside of work, she is an even better friend, the best mother, and a loving daughter and sister,” the post read.
Driver takes plea, sentenced to prison
As a trained EMT, Diaz had become well aware of the opioid epidemic plaguing the nation. In a cruel twist of fate, it was the epidemic that nearly ended her life.
In the weeks that followed the crash, the driver, Nicole Marino, was indicted by a grand jury on felony charges.
Prosecutors submitted the New Dorp woman was unlicensed and “heavily impaired by fentanyl,” at the time of the crash.
Ultimately, Marino pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, and in exchange was sentenced to five years in prison and five years post-release supervision.
Pressing forward, saving lives
About a year after the incident, Diaz returned to work in the FDNY’s Resource Coordination Center. In that role, she delegates resources including first responders, ambulances and equipment across Staten Island and Brooklyn.
“I’m not really an office girl, but working with these people makes it so much easier,” Diaz said. “I still go through waves of emotions, the ups and downs.”
She has credited her physical recovery in part to the support she received from the FDNY’s family assistance unit, whose staff drove her to appointments and supplied a custom van.
More recently, a return to the gym has also proved beneficial.
“It was good to be able to get back; it was something I did before the injury,” Diaz explained. “It was great for my mental health.”
Through it all, she said it’s her son who serves as both an “anchor” and a “motivator” in the recovery process. And that if she doesn’t put the work in to achieve a positive mindset, it would be as if he lost his mother to the crash.
“I try to do as many things with him as possible,” said Diaz. “Trying to be as normal as possible.”
In the years ahead, she still hopes to pursue a career in nursing.
When asked what she might tell a fellow front-line responder faced with a similar fate, Diaz reiterated the importance of having a “motivator” in life and pressing forward.
“It can get very dark when you’re sitting alone. Your thoughts can get wild and take you down a rabbit hole, but don’t let it happen. Find your anchor, your motivator; hold on to it for dear life and let that drive you.”
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