Victoria Cardenas’s mom calls it a “miracle” that she survived a scary crash on an Arizona highway.
PHOENIX — A Valley business owner is on her way to recovery after a scary collision with a trailer carrying dozens of steel pipes on U.S. Highway 60 in Mesa.
Victoria Cardenas, 26, was traveling back to her pottery business in Apache Junction on Monday afternoon when a truck and trailer lost control, sending the trailer into oncoming traffic.
“I was breathing, but I couldn’t feel air in my lungs. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life,” her mom, Amber Cardenas, said as she described learning her daughter was involved in a crash.
Amber was driving back from Rocky Point when she got an alert on her phone, followed by a call from a family member informing her of the terrible news.
“Is she alive? Is she alive,” she questioned as she was driving. “The second I found out that she was alive, I was just like, thank you, because I felt like, if she were to die, I would have to die with her.”
Pictures taken by the Superstition Springs Fire Department show the extent of the damage. The whole front side of her car was completely gone, but Cardenas made it out alive.
“Not much left of it. And I was like, not much, except for my daughter, and she is the only thing that survived in that car,” Amber said.
Victoria was transported to the hospital with severe injuries to her face, foot, and wrist. They are injuries, her mom says, that will not stop her from doing what she loves. Victoria owns Tors Mudslinger, a pottery shop at Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction.
“She feels like she’s in heaven when she’s over there working. That’s where she always wants to be when she’s not home with her little fur babies,” Amber said.
Her family’s unimaginable grief turned into a glimmer of relief Friday morning. For the first time since the crash, Victoria opened her eyes in her hospital bed.
“Yesterday to today, like I I’ve got a smile on my face,” Amber said. “She has more work to do here, and we need her. Her brother and her sister, I need her.”
Arizona DPS says the driver of the truck and trailer, whose name has not been released, has been cited for failure to control his vehicle to avoid a collision and for no seat belt use.
Victoria’s family and friends have created a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses and get her specialized equipment to continue her pottery business.
You can donate to help them here.
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