Zeller said she tried to grab the bridge's railing but failed.
"I remember thinking, 'When am I going to hit the ground?' " she said. "I just kept falling. Then instinct just kind of kicked in, and I just kind of curled up into a little ball to try to tuck and roll."
Zeller suffered fractured vertebrae, fractured ribs, a broken neck and a collapsed lung.
"I got very close to severing the C2 (vertebrae), which then I would have been dead," she said.
Zeller returned home from a rehab center last month but needs to use a body brace, neck brace and wheelchair. She sleeps in a special hospital bed.
Zeller, who described herself as an active person and avid hiker, said it's difficult to complete simple tasks.
"I have to be put to bed," she said. "I can't dress myself. I can't shower myself. Normal routine life, I need assistance constantly for those things."
Suzanne Roy, Zeller's roommate and caretaker, said her friend initially suffered a lot of nightmares related to the event.
"The nighttime dreams are fewer," she said. "But the anxiety is more (from) talking about it."
Despite her physical and emotional wounds, Zeller attended her graduation Friday from DeVry University, where President Craig Jacob gave her the school's "Persistence Award."
The certificate recognizes students who show "exceptional persistence" and overcome "seemingly insurmountable obstacles."
Zeller received her bachelor's degree in biomedical-engineering technology.
Above: Craig Jacob, DeVry University's president for metro Phoenix, greets Maxine Zeller at her graduation Friday. Zeller fell 30 feet from a bridge in Surprise in January while avoiding an oncoming vehicle. (Photo courtesy of Crystal Ochoa, The Arizona Republic)
To read the full article from The Arizona Republic written by D.S. Woodfill, please clickhere.
