Princeton — After graduating from Princeton High School in 1989, Libby Braswell started school at Mount Olive College on a scholarship.

Two years later, she left school to focus on her relationship with her boyfriend and on her job at Security Atlas, a moving company in Goldsboro.

But a life-changing accident in 2003 put her focus back on education, and Braswell channeled her thankfulness for a second chance at life into a drive to learn and succeed. She has since earned two associate’s degrees and a bachelor’s degree.

From Mount Olive College, Braswell has picked up a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems and an associate’s degree in general studies. From Wayne Community College she earned an associate’s degree in information systems and network administration.

On March 4, 2003, Braswell was headed out Princeton Road in her Ford Explorer, her dachshund Princess at her side. She made a quick glance off to the side of the road, and when she looked back, she was headed straight for a culvert. When the wheel struck the culvert, the SUV was sent tumbling over seven times.

“It threw me out the back window of my Explorer,” Braswell said.

Braswell suffered no cuts or scratches and landed mostly in a freshly plowed field. However, she also landed on a brick in that field, which caused her T12 vertebrae to shatter.

Braswell said she knew right away that something was wrong, although the biggest pain she was feeling was from Braswell learned she wouldn’t walk again. She spent the following two months at WakeMed and then came home wearing a brace that held her back motionless. She later checked back into WakeMed for more physical therapy.

Soon after her injury, Braswell fought to reassert her way of life. A girly girl with perfectly manicured nails, she had her nurse at WakeMed plug in her curling iron and bring her her makeup bag in the mornings.

“I was very independent — very independent — and to go from that to having somebody dress you and get you out of bed ...,” Braswell said. “People don’t realize, too, when somebody goes in a chair, your family goes in a chair.”

The relationship with her fiance unraveled during her recovery, and some of her friends couldn’t cope. Braswell said she was mostly unsocial for the first year, and her family cared for her full-time. She still lives at home with her parents, Faye and Earl Braswell, but is largely independent now.

Once her disability benefits kicked in, Braswell had enough money to support herself and go to school. She enrolled at Wayne Community College in 2004 and added classes at Mount Olive College in 2006.

Her dad took her to school and picked her up every day, but Braswell still faced hurdles on campus. Her 65-pound chair tired her father, and at Mount Olive, the handicapped parking was at the front of the main classroom building, while the handicapped entrance was near the backside of the building.

During her last semester of school, Braswell took a whopping 21 credit hours to finish. On Mondays and Wednesdays, she had classes at Mount Olive College from 11 a.m. till 3:30 p.m. and then went to the school’s campus at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base from 5 till 10 p.m.

A graduation goal kept her going, but Braswell said she also found support from her friends in the N.C. Spinal Cord Association.

“Being in the Spinal Cord Association, to me, brought her out,” said Faye, her mother. “They understand.” “I got to see it’s not just me,” Braswell said of the group.

This past summer, Braswell worked with her old boss at Security Atlas, Doug McGrath, at Bekins Worldwide Relocation Services on U.S. 70 in Smithfield. He offered her a full-time job, and now she handles client services and marketing for the company.

“It’s very comfortable there,” Braswell said, adding that she works about 30 hours a week now. “The eventual goal is to be 40 hours a week and get off disability.”