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August 15, 2011

Garrett Ebling, 36, was among the worst injured in the Minnesota bridge collapse of August 1, 2007. Today, Ebling counts his blessings and manages his start-up restaurant as a part of his new life as a survivor.

Ebling’s brush with death happened four years ago when the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota collapsed and fell 60 feet into the Mississippi River. Another 145 people were injured in the bridge collapse, with a death toll of thirteen.

Ebling spent two months in the hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries to fix his severed colon, multiple fractured bones in his face and jaw, two broken feet, collapsed lung, and compound fracture in his arm. Ebling had to relearn everyday tasks, from walking to eating.

Ebling admitted that his emotional recovery took far longer than the physical. He spent three years in therapy following his release from the hospital, learning to deal with his depression and anxiety attacks.

Ebling used money from a settlement to start his restaurant, Minnesota’s first Which Wich sandwich franchise. The job requires Ebling to spend long hours on his feet, but he feels more fulfilled than in his previous journalism career.

"I just realized I didn’t want to spend the years ahead working in a cubicle," Ebling said to WTRF . "I wanted to do work that’s more active, to be out interacting with the public and acting as a mentor to the people here."

"I won’t say that when I’m driving across a bridge I sometimes don’t still feel a little nervous — or when I’m stopped at a light on a bridge," Ebling confessed to the source. "I just talk myself through it, ‘The light’s going to turn green and you’re going to drive across. No problem.’ And it does, and I do."

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