Life can change in a second!

Life Can Change in a Second: Joanna Holston

Hello, my name is Joanna Holston. I’ve been riding motorcycles since being a teenager in 1990. This started my deep love and passion for motorcycles—from working on them to just ridingthem. 

For any rider, we know it’s a matter of when you go down not if you do. 

Well, my time to “go down” finally came around. I had to get my bike from school, Forsyth Technology Community College, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

See, I drove a commercial truck for many years but finally decided to pursue my passion after my father passed. I got my first Harley Davidson in 2017 and now I’m riding my third Harley Davidson. A year ago I enrolled in community college to pursue a two-year associate’s degree in motorcycle mechanics and technology. The first year was a struggle—being 90 miles away from school—going one way. 

However, I kept my grades up because my dream is to open a female-run motorcycle shop in California so I can help others by passing on my knowledge and help with schooling for other young ladies that want to enter the trades. 

Well, when I said my time came around, it couldn’t have hit me at a worse time. I had to get my bike out of storage at school because I was driving my truck for work and school but the transmission went out on it. I had to keep my night job so I could pay bills and help with school during the day. 

I was out riding on December 4, 2021. It was a beautiful day to ride nearby country roads. As it was getting late I needed to go get ready for work. I made a left turn to head back to the interstate. As I completed my turn and my downshifting, I slowly rolled into the throttle … but it stuck.

The bike picked up so much speed I couldn’t stop. I was told that my beloved bike and I took out 85 feet of fence line in a cow pasture as I flew through the air. My body impacted the 4x4 fence post. As I flipped through a barbwire fence my full-face helmet was impacting the post. As I landed on my back, I raised my left leg and then the right. 

That’s when I realized my foot just dangled. 

The rescue squad arrived shortly later. They were cutting my clothes off of me and talking amongst each other, worrying if I was going to survive. As I lay naked on the ground, they were discussing what to do. 

It was determined to take me to a local hospital to stabilize me first before air lifting me to a better location. The local hospital got me stabilized and then it was off to the helicopter. I remember the turbines spooling up and as we flew through the night time sky. I thought to myself, “am I going to survive or was it my time?” I know I got bigger plans. 

As we landed in Asheville NC, a doctor came up and said, “Miss Holston, I have to either amputate your leg or fix it. What you want me to do?” I replied for him to fix it! 

I woke up later in my hospital room. They told me the list of my injuries:

As l laid in the hospital and rehab for a whole month, I’ve been stressing out over the cost! How am I going to try to keep from being homeless?! How am I going to get back to school with my truck broke, and my doctors’ appointments? 

I was then told from my employer that I didn’t have short term disability insurance or long term disability insurance, either. That really stressed me out. I had enough to pay my bills up for two months and had extra coverage on a loan for hospitalization coverage while I was in the hospital. However, as I was getting out of the hospital a government agency followed up with my employer and they told me my last day of employment was the 31st. He told me on phone in the hospital he couldn’t hold my job. 

This leaves me with no job and no insurance or means to pay back these bills! I don’t have family to turn to, either. My mother passed in 2001 and my father in 2017 and I have no siblings—none of them made it after birth. My ex-spouse and her daughter and my daughter are all that I have as a family.  

It’s going to be a rough uphill battle, but I staying focused on my dream. I credit my increased survival rate for wearing my full gear. Faith is the other! 

Thank you for your time to read my story!  Life can change in a second.