Sonya Elliott was driving home from her wedding shower with her fiancé when their car was hit by a train. Sonya survived—Mark did not. As an athlete and model, Sonya’s shattered right arm and leg, bruised heart, punctured lung, and lacerated spleen and kidney were life-threatening injuries that tested her strength and will to survive. Yet these were nothing compared to the emotional struggle she endured in coming to terms with Mark’s death. With time and hard work, Sonya was eventually able to play basketball, model and fall in love again. Her experience gives her rare insight into survival and healing, and she is determined to share her story of tragedy and recovery to encourage and inspire.

As a senior in college Sonya began modeling. She filmed her national Soloflex commercial before the accident and her national Easy Spirit commercial (where she played basketball in pumps) just as she was regaining use of her right arm following the accident. Sonya has been in countless magazines, catalogues, brochures and advertisements as well as on the runway throughout her career. She continues to work as a model and as a freelance writer, but mostly she is thankful to be alive and to have found someone to share her life with. Sonya and her husband Jason have been married since 1994. They live in Seattle with their daughter Charli, son Cass and their boxer, Sassy.

Sonya’s article “Writing to Save My Life” placed Third in the 2007 PNWA Writer’s Contest, Adult Short Topic and an excerpt from her memoir Lasting Impact placed Third in the 2006 PNWA Writer’s Contest, Non-Fiction Book/Memoir. She completed the University of Washington’s Memoir certificate program in 2003. An all-conference academic basketball player, Sonya attended Eastern Washington University on an athletic scholarship and graduated in 1988 with honors. Along with coaching youth teams, Sonya continues to play basketball competitively in Seattle’s top women’s leagues.