Hometown Hero: Maggie Evans

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Maggie Evans doesn’t really mind that she cannot recall any details about the bicycle accident that nearly took her life.

“I remember going out and doing my workout and then I was opening my eyes in the hospital,” Evans said.

Because the memory she will take from it began after impact.

“Completely overwhelmed and the love just keeps coming,” Evans said.

Maggie was finishing a training ride on April 12th, riding the shoulder of highway 80 between Whitemarsh Island and Thunderbolt when she was struck from behind by a truck traveling at high speed.

“I flew 135 feet and landed in the marsh, luckily, I had a lot of internal bleeding initially, my liver was lacerated, some spinal stuff mostly thoracic and cervical. Vertebrae, ribs, I fractured my hip and broke my toe,” Evans said.

“A month ago, we really didn’t know the extent of her injuries and whether or not she would recover from all of them and now we see a really long road,” Howard Paul said.

Maggie’s husband Jackson works at Benedetto Guitars with Howard Paul, who was the first person at the emergency room once Maggie was identified.

He was also first to look past her massive physical injuries to other potential challenges and started a GoFundMe account for the couple.

“Within 48 hours, we reached our $100,000 goal.”

“Which speaks to how wonderful Maggie is. She is beloved by everyone. She has the biggest heart, so talented, so successful at everything she does, but so humble. It’s just impossible not to love her and support her,” Kristin King said.

Maggie is a musician and an artist, a competitive cyclist and a teacher at SCAD and she saw support from all of those communities.

“Everybody just wants to help, figuring out people who can go and help clean the house, preparing meals, dog walking, whatever they could do. They’ve stood up, raised their hand and said let me help.”

And they have as Maggie is now back home after a month in the hospital and a therapeutic care facility,

One WTOC Hometown Hero fighting her way back to health with the help of many more.

“I want to individually thank everyone; I just don’t know how to do it. I hope everyone knows, every single, everything just a comment, it helps me. It brings me up a little and it’s inspiring too. I appreciate it all so much,” Evans said.

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