This is the story of a truly brave and inspirational young woman who sacrificed her own safety for the sake of a total stranger.

On February 20, 2012, just 2 days after her longtime boyfriend Nathan Grimmes proposed, Alissa Boyle sustained life-altering injuries when she and another nursing student stopped to assist the driver of a wrecked vehicle on Interstate 79, in Pennsylvania.

While driving to Ruby Memorial Hospital, for their senior clinicals, just weeks away from graduating nursing school, Alissa Boyle and passenger, Cami Abernethy, stopped on I-79 to assist the driver of an overturned jeep, who had apparently fallen asleep at the wheel.  Alissa and Cami were able to rescue 21 year old Derek Hartzog, however, the three faced a tractor-trailer heading directly towards them. The two nursing students and rescued victim made the split second decision to jump from the 40 ft. overpass to avoid being struck by the semi.

Alissa was the most severely injured of the three. She blacked out after the jump and remembers waking to the worst pain she had ever experienced yet she could not feel her legs. After waking from surgery the first thing the doctors told her was that she had only a 1% chance of ever walking again.

Paralyzed her thoughts turned immediately to her fiancé’ Nathan stationed in Ft. Bragg N. Carolina, thinking he might reconsider the proposal.

Nathan told her “he’s not going anywhere” He never left her bedside and told her “You will not only walk again, you’re going to run”

Alissa recently passed her State Boards on December 15^th and is officially an R.N. and an inspiration to everyone she meets.

Now, with the support of her fiancé and intense physical therapy, she is determined and on her way to walking down the aisle on September 7, 2013, in a fairy tale wedding provided by Jamie’s Dream Team, a nonprofit dedicated to helping those suffering from trauma, illness, injury or a disability.

Alissa Boyle is just one of the many individuals who have benefited from this amazing labor of love started by Jamie Holmes when she was only 18.

Let’s dream BIG and make it happen once again!

Media Contact: Jamie Holmes or Kim Shidel at 412-377-3698 or j.holmes@jamiesdreamteam.org

To help with this dream, contact Kim Shidel at 412-377-3698 or j.holmes@jamiesdreamteam.org or make a donation online through our PayPal account.