First time going down

Back in late October, I was heading home from work on the 405 in Los Angeles. I was riding my “new to me” Ducati Monster S2R until the SUV in front of me suddenly stops completely (because of a tire in the road that the driver didn’t see until they nearly ran it over) in the HOV/carpool lane. I immediately jump out of the lane to avoid colliding with this vehicle until they do the same and I unfortunately fly face first into the rear of their SUV at around 60-65 mph. Next thing I know, i’m rolling down the highway...eventually looking up at the sky. My first thought was “damn, i’m not gonna be able to ride for awhile” and then I feel the bumper of another SUV gently nudge my shoulder, nearly running me over. By this time, this excruciating pain overwhelms my body and I look down and see that both of my legs and my right arm are broken. After some time, this lady gets out of her car and holds me in her lap while calling the paramedics for me. This lady turns out to be a nurse and is doing her best to calm me down while I come to terms with what just happened. I now consider this lady to be my Aunt and she spent Christmas with my family this year. One funny thing about all of this was that I had just bought a brand new Shoei X-14 helmet the day before my accident and i truly believe it saved my brain/life. It has only a few small scuffs on it and is still structurally sound. Long story short, I spent a month in the hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries, and everybody asking “are you going to ride again?” or saying “stay off that bike, get a nice car” . I spent a lot of my hospital time depressed that so many people didn’t understand motorcycles, telling me not to ride anymore, wondering what i could have done differently, and would i be able to walk again. Here we are, at the start of a new year, I am walking again on both feet with very minimal pain, doing physical therapy 3x a week, and will be going back to school/work by the end of January. I’ve also decided to continue riding after feeling guilty for so long but, I feel that riding is in my blood and it became such a huge part of my life. This time around, i’ll spend more time doing advanced riding courses/track riding and enjoying life on two wheels again.TLDR: went down hard, a few broken bones, depression and triumph/mental clarity. i will ride again :) via /r/motorcycles https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/eiseut/first_time_going_down/?utm_source=ifttt