When University of Massachusetts student Ciara Tran woke up at Bay State Medical Center after being in and out of consciousness for four days, she asked a nurse why she was there. When she was told that a car had hit her, she laughed.

Heather Winchester, a UMass student, hit Tran on Sept. 24, 2004 at 2:30 a.m. while driving drunk on Commonwealth Ave. near the Mullins Center. Winchester, now 22, was recently sentenced to three months in jail at the finish of the fall 2005 semester for drunken driving.

Tran, now 20, had spent the night of Sept. 24, 2004 being the designated driver for her friends who she went with to Club Rain in Springfield.

“I parked my car in Lot 12. I usually parked in Lot 11 but I got too many tickets, so that night I decided to park where I was supposed to,” Tran said.

Tran and her three friends were walking back to Southwest from Lot 12 on the side of the road where the sidewalk eventually ends when she was hit.

“They put stitches in my forehead and I was discharged in seven days,” said Tran. “I was home for less than 24 hours and then was rushed to children’s hospital because I had cerebral spinal fluid leaking from my nose. I was then told that I had to have brain surgery. I had multiple fractures and my brain was bruised, liquefied, and filled with air and fluid. They had to put six plates in my head to replace my forehead, which was smashed. I then had two more surgeries and plastic surgery on my forehead.

“I then had to go to rehab for two weeks to learn how to walk again. I had broken bones in [my] head only because I was hit from behind, so my body was relaxed. I lost two main senses, smell and taste. They came back, but they are distorted now. I then went to outpatient rehab for two months for physical and speech therapy, where I had to do ridiculous tests to make sure that I could come back to school since I had brain damage,” she said.

Tran also suffered from diabetes insipidus, a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by intense thirst and excessive urination, caused by a deficiency of the pituitary hormone vasopressin from the surgery that she had to undergo. She had to take three pills a day to regulate everything in her body. She had lost her pituitary hormone, which came back – luckily, she said.

“I am a bartender, I don’t drink. I’m always sober. What are the chances that I get hit?” Tran said. “Emotionally it was not a walk in the park. It was hard knowing that someone had ran me over and left me there. What kind of person does that?” she said.

Tran had to withdraw from UMass three weeks into the fall 2004 semester due to her injuries.

“I feel fine, being back now, but last semester was hard. I had to adjust to being behind everyone. I didn’t know who knew [about the accident] and I didn’t want to be pointed out. The doctors told me to take three classes. I took six. I don’t want to fall behind; it’s hard to carry on with life. I work with disability services in case I feel overwhelmed. I use them to my advantage. They are only here to help,” Tran said.

Tran did not see Winchester until her court date on Oct. 19. She was unsure of how she would react to seeing the woman that hit her.

“She wrote me a letter that I was not allowed to read until the day of court. It felt like a general apology and meant nothing to me. Seeing her in court, and how she carried herself, I was unable to maintain composure. She did not seem affected by my presence. She tried to make it sound like I jumped in front of her car, like I had been playing in traffic,” Tran said.

Winchester was sentenced to three months in the Ludlow House of Corrections. Once released, she must perform 100 hours of community service in a head-trauma unit or talking with high school students about drinking and driving. She also had to pay a $500 fine and she is on probation for the next three years. In addition, she must also undergo substance abuse counseling, and pay for any of Tran’s medical bills not covered by insurance.

Tran believes that she got off easy. “That’s nothing,” she said.

“The legal system took a long time, and I am glad that it is over,” Tran said. “I feel like she made her bed and now she has to lie in it. If she stayed at the accident instead of kept driving, this wouldn’t be happening. I’m not a cat. I am a human being. I don’t care how drunk you are, you would notice a human body bouncing off of your windshield.

“I am not one to preach, and I know this school has a reputation for partying, but people don’t realize how serious drinking and driving is. In a group of friends, everyone should take a turn at being the designated driver one night so that you know your friends will be safe. It’s not hard to sacrifice one night of drinking so that you know people’s lives will not be in jeopardy,” she said.

In a brief interview with the Daily Collegian, Winchester said, “I would rather do anything than go to jail.

“I can’t go back to the way life was before. It was a huge mistake and I wish it never happened. I’m still sorry every day [for] what happened.”

“My outlook has changed. I have a greater appreciation for life,” Tran said. “It takes something like this to put things in perspective. Life is too short to waste time and you never know what is going to happen.”

Tran will be taking summer classes to catch up because she wants to graduate with her friends. She expects to graduate in 2008.