It’s a date she will never forget — for all the wrong reasons.
Kiaha Kurek was excited to go out with a man she connected with on Plenty of Fish in 2012, a meeting she says ended in a horrific car crash that left her with permanent scars.
Kurek, 35, recalls being in the car with her date on the way to the cinema when he stopped mid-turn, causing another vehicle to collide with them at 50 miles per hour.
“I remember being sat in the car, seeing headlights coming towards me and thinking, ‘This is the end’,” the Oregon-based catering business owner told SWNS.
“I woke up, and my eyes were burning because blood was dripping into them,” she continued. “And I could hear a loud noise as the car was cut open.”
Kurek said she was told she may never walk again, breaking her pelvis and several ribs, as well as completely shattering her leg, requiring reconstructive surgery to insert pins.
“I remembered coming out of surgery being in excruciating pain, and I was devastated when doctors told me I might not be able to walk properly again,” she recalled.
“I had to move back in with my parents, and I had to rely on other people to do everything, which was the worst part.”
A recovering Kurek said she received another blow — her date apologized, and then she never heard from him again.
She claimed she also found out he was 19 years old and had only recently obtained his license, but told her he was 24.
Kurek said it took six weeks before she managed to take a step by herself and months of using a wheelchair before she was back on her feet.
Recovery took a year in total, with her moving to a walker after the wheelchair, then crutches, then a cane, before finally walking unassisted.
Traumatized by her leg scars, Kurek covered them with tattoos in an effort to forget her “worst date ever.”
The pain of her recovery didn’t stop there, with Kurek reporting that she had to file for bankruptcy due to her $1 million medical bills.
She said she opted not to sue her date, and she wants to put the crash behind her.
“When it comes to dating, you have to be aware of how much trust you put in people,” she advised. “Trust your gut instinct — if it says don’t get in the car, listen to it. Listen every time.”
More than a decade after the tragic crash, Kurek is blissfully married to Bartek Kurek, revealing that he is “nothing” like her date from hell.
“On our first date, I called my best friend and said, ‘I think I’ve found my future husband,’ and I had,” she happily recounted.
“It was the total opposite of that first date from hell, and I’m so happy now,” she gushed. “Sometimes life just happens, you can wallow in it or do something different and move on.”