Point Reyes Light - October 7, 1999
Coma survivor returns weekly 10 years after Point Reyes wreck
On August 25, 1989 Julie Colclough was driving on the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road near Highway 1 on her way to Inverness, where her boyfriend lived. She lost control of her car and got in a horrendous wreck. She survived, barely, but was stuck in a coma for many days.
Ten years later, Colclough, a Novato resident, now believes that "someone is out there looking out for me."
Awakening from her coma marked only the start of a long, slow but steady recovery. Colclough regained her ability to speak, although this took more than two years. "I had a lot of physical and mental therapy."
At this point, she said, "the only thing I can't do by myself is walk. Usually I am in a wheelchair." However, she is making progress with a walker, although she struggles to maintain her balance.
One night seven years ago when she was feeling lonely, Colclough took a taxi to downtown Novato and at a local nightclub met Paul Zell. They have been living together for the past seven years, and have been engaged to be married for last six.
When speaking of their life together and the struggles that Colclough has faced, Zell describes "a life that would create a movie."
He characterizes his fiancee as "very driven" and a person with "an appreciation for life and a tremendous zest for people." She has regained all her "academic skills" but "tends to lose her concentration for long things like movies."
The past 10 years have not all been therapy and recuperation. For a time Colclough worked at the the Juvenile Traffic Court giving "lectures" to kids who had gotten traffic citations so they might benefit from her experience. For the past four years she has worked at Costco as a greeter at the front door.
Colclough drives herself to work every day in a vehicle with a special steering wheel adaptation.
These days Julie's memory is good, but she does not remember anything that happened shortly before the accident, nor the accident itself. "The police report said she had passed several cars, so she was more than likely speeding," Zell said. Colclough said she "must have lost control because there are no screech marks."
Every Saturday, as the pair makes their way to breakfast in Point Reyes Station, they pass the spot where the accident occurred. Zell drives his vintage motorcycle, and Colclough rides in the sidecar.
When she's not working or riding sidecar, Colclough practices walking. Recently she observed the 10th anniversary of the accident by walking the full length of their block - one-eighth of a mile - with her walker.
Julie's ultimate goal is to be able to walk down the aisle on her wedding day on her own - with the walker if she still needs it, or unaided if she has progressed that far.