Mayra De Catalan Turned Trauma Into Gratitude After a Devastating Car Accident
This entrepreneur survived a horrible accident that took more than just her car. She got back on her feet through habits that emphasized what she appreciated most in life.
By Christina Fernández-Morrow
The car flew at her at 114 miles per hour, crossing the median in a blur of metal and inevitability. In the seconds before impact, Mayra De Catalan was simply a mother driving home with her 7-year-old son and 4-year-old nephew in the back seat. In the aftermath, she became something else entirely: a survivor learning to rebuild her life from the ground up.
Her son, Thiago, suffered a broken arm. Her nephew Marcos did not survive the collision. De Catalan was left fighting for her life with a shattered lower back, a bleeding stomach, a blown knee, a broken ankle, several sprained fingers and toes, scrapes and cuts and she lost nearly 70 percent of her blood.
It took three back-to-back surgeries over a dozen hours before doctors knew if De Catalan would survive. While the medical team worked, her family mourned Marcos and prayed. “My poor husband didn’t know if I was going to make it. My son almost lost his mother,” she recalls.
The road to recovery has been slow and painful. It has included repeated hospital stays, more surgeries, and excruciating pain that often leaves De Catalan out of breath and weak. De Catalan can no longer sit, stand, or walk for more than 45 minutes without needing to change positions. “I have to go from sitting, lying down to walking. I am constantly moving,” she explains. “I have had to lay on the floor at my son’s soccer games. I remember this family walking past me, looking and asking, what is wrong with that crazy woman? I didn’t care. I was in so much pain I had to take care of myself.”
The physical challenges were compounded by emotional devastation. “Not only am I grieving, but I am also in pain physically and mentally,” she says. “I prayed constantly because I was so angry. I prayed that I could forgive this man.”
Forgiveness became her turning point. “I didn’t think I could do it, but one day I did. Once I did that, I was able to concentrate on other things like taking care of myself and being grateful for what I had left.” Her gratitude is at the heart of her healing.
Bedridden and unable to manage the rental properties that were supposed to launch her and her husband’s new business, De Catalan faced a stark choice: let everything collapse or find a new way forward. The couple pivoted quickly, creating automated systems and hiring employees and third-party vendors to keep their business running without her daily involvement. “I’m grateful that my husband always made saving a priority,” she reflects. “Those savings allowed us to make these adjustments when we needed them most.” The financial cushion and business adaptations gave her something invaluable: permission to focus entirely on healing.
With physical and financial survival secured, De Catalan found solace in journaling. What began as a repository for anger and pain gradually transformed into something else.
“I am grateful that I can wiggle my toes again, that my nails are growing long. I am grateful to see the sun come up. I transitioned from being angry to being grateful and it changed my life,” De Catalan says, her voice steady despite the enormity of what those words represent.
“When I first started writing, it was a lot of anger, pain and sorrows,” she recalls of that first journal. “It went from ‘why me, God?’ to ‘what do you want me to learn from this, God?’”
De Catalan developed rituals around her gratitude practice. Every time she enters her home, she completes one small task—dishes, laundry, any chore that makes her feel accomplished. Then she writes about her gratitude for being able to do that one thing for her family. “I do it every time, no matter how many times I enter my house in one day.”
Sometimes she follows that with a few minutes of meditation or affirmations that remind her of the progress she’s making and reads books centered on hope and overcoming obstacles.
“I started smiling again, feeling happy,” she says. The practice helped her focus on what remained rather than what was lost, though setbacks were inevitable. Survivor’s guilt plagued her, as did worry about burdening her son, who had to learn to care for a mother who could no longer do everything she once could.
The accident forced De Catalan to reconsider what mattered most. “I concentrated so much on being a career woman, growing my business, the goals that were supposed to make me successful. Now I concentrate on what makes me happy. Being a mom, wife, being around my friends and family.”
Dark moments still come, especially when she sees boys who remind her of Marcos. She realizes that pain will never go away, no matter who many journals she fills or rituals that bring her peace. During these times, she relies on her support network, having learned to be vulnerable and articulate her feelings—skills she now uses to help her son process his own trauma.
Regular therapy, activities that help her feel stronger like swimming, and continued journaling anchor her ongoing recovery. Each small accomplishment, from wiggling her toes to watching the sun rise is a testament to her survival.
De Catalan’s journals now number in the dozens, each one a record of her journey from victim to survivor to someone who chooses gratitude daily. “I get to watch my son grow up. Make dinner for my husband,” she says. “I used to do 10 things at once. Now I’m grateful to be able to pick up this pencil and write, and be fully present,” she says—words that capture the enormity of what she’s lost and the power of what remains. In a life redefined by tragedy, these simple acts have become her greatest victories.
This article is also available in Spanish at www.jefasmagzine.com.
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Inspiring. Truly amazing. We can all learn a lot about the gift of gratitude here.