Accident survivor named ‘mother of the year’

And the winner is … Kimberly Wresh, the 2014 InMaricopa.com Mother of the Year. Wresh received the most votes from InMaricopa.com readers in an annual contest sponsored by K’Bella Salon and Day Spa and UltraStar Multi-tainment Center.

Wresh is the mother of four children – Joel, 20; Ryan, 11; Matthew, 8; and Cort, 2 – and won the grand prize of a full makeover with permanent makeup, hair makeover, one-hour massage, skin treatment from K’Bella and a VIP movie or bowling experience for six from UltraStar Multi-tainment Center.

Wresh and her former husband and children moved to Maricopa in 2002.

“We bought one of the first homes in Rancho El Dorado,” she said, adding she enjoys the small town community and open spaces of Maricopa.

She said she wanted her children to grow up in a small town that had a “community feeling, a place where the school teachers are the same people you go to church with on Sunday.”

Tragedy struck Wresh and her family this year, reinforcing the importance of family and community in her life.

On March 15, Wresh and her fiancé, Chandler Police Detective Sean McKenzie, decided to take a motorcycle ride to Cave Creek to have lunch and shop. She said it was a beautiful day and although they both had helmets, neither wore one.

“You don’t think anything is going to happen to you,” she said.

The accident happened on State Route 347 when she and McKenzie were hit by a car from behind. McKenzie did not survive the accident.

“I would beg anybody who would listen to wear not only a helmet but all the protective gear” when riding a motorcycle, she said. “I would never go on a motorcycle again, never get on a bike again – the risk is so much.”

“I barely survived the accident,” she said.

Wresh broke her back in five places, crushed her ribs, tore open her knees, broke her elbow, suffered “brain bleeds,” punctured her lungs and hemorrhaged between her lungs and the wall of her chest.

She said her recovery has gone well.

“I have at least five doctors – none of them can explain the rate of my healing and they are amazed that I am alive,” she said. “My healing has been far beyond anything my doctors expected.”

“I know it is because of all the people who pray for me – I have no doubt,” she said.
Wresh’s friend Molly Farabee and her mother stayed with her in intensive care after the accident.

“The community (of Maricopa) has been so amazing to me,” she said, adding people have signed up through mealtrain.com to bring her and her family meals since she returned home from the hospital.

“My arm is still injured and I wear a compression sleeve on my left arm,” she said.

Kimberly started her own business, Remarkable Walls, seven and a half years ago. Remarkable Walls creates custom vinyl decals for interior decoration.

She said her son Joel has been running the business, which is her only source of income, since the accident.

I can’t do much at all now, but I expect to be fully healed,” she said.

Wresh’s four sons have “inspired her to survive and push on through her recovery,” said friend Bobbi Jo Asher, who nominated her for the honor. “In her darkest hour, Kim knew she needed to fight, survive and stick around no matter how hard and how painful it was going to be so she could continue to provide for her family.”