On leap year day in 2000, Molly Schwarz made a decision that would impact the rest of her life: she left work at Northwest Airlines one hour early.

Everything – the traffic that day in Palm Harbor, Fla., the cycle of the stoplights on her route home – was timed just right to put her in the path of an 87-year-old man who was driving without his glasses. Schwarz had the green light and the right of way, but the man turned in front of her and there was a horrible collision. He was okay, but Schwarz was not.

Schwarz, 44 at the time, was driving a 10-year-old Honda that had no air bags. Her carotid artery was severed. Soon after she arrived at the hospital emergency room, she lapsed into a coma.

She lived but has never fully recovered and was never able to work again. She suffered a stroke that left partial paralysis on her right side. Being right-handed, she had to learn to write with her left hand. Schwarz is able to walk, but slowly, and she relies on a cane. Her speech is also slow, and she cannot remain standing for very long.

Many people might have given up and resigned themselves to life in a wheelchair, but Schwarz did not. In the years since the accident, she has traveled to Europe and other places. One of her trips was with a friend to Sequim for the annual Lavender Festival. She loved Sequim so much she decided to move there, even though she had no friends or family members living there. She has been a Sequim resident for two years.

“I had my life to live,” she said. “I didn’t think about giving up.”

Schwarz is able to legally drive, thanks to a vehicle that was adapted to her physical challenges and not only passing her driving test, but receiving a perfect score. Every week, she drives to the Shipley Center where she enjoys socializing at Leo’s Cafe or over games of Mahjong. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning she can be found at the YMCA in Sequim, where she works with trainer Lisa Fox to improve her strength, balance and mobility. Oftentimes, Schwarz wears one of her T-shirts that says “Life is Good.” She has a collection of them.

For Schwarz, who chooses to view things in the most positive light possible, life is good. But sometimes she wonders how her life would have gone had she not left work early that day or if she had taken a different route home. For a while, she was angry at the man who caused her so much harm. But now, when asked how she feels about it, she shrugs.

“Such is life,” she said.

At the start of every new year, many able-bodied people resolve to exercise more but soon lose their motivation and self-discipline. Not so with Schwarz. She is determined to achieve as much healing and physical health as possible.

“I don’t know anything that stops Molly from doing any activity and what inspires me is how she sees hope in every situation,” Fox said of her trainee. “She keeps showing up and doing the work so that she can live the life that she wants to live.”

Sequim Gazette photo by Kathy Cruz Molly Schwarz is a regular at the Sequim YMCA, where she works to overcome, as best she can, the physical challenges caused by a car accident and stroke.