PROVO — Inge Valdmann's apartment isn't very big, but it takes her a few minutes to answer the door. First she has to wiggle to the end of the couch, which, when you've got two broken legs and a broken hip, is no small feat. Using the wall for support, she raises herself, trembling, onto her crutches. From there, she's got to swing her crutches (dragging her legs behind) six times to make it 10 feet to the door.
Still, she opens the door with a sunny smile. "Hello," she says, tipping her blonde head to the side, eyes sparkling.
Her glowing demeanor is surprising considering the circumstances. Valdmann came to Utah from Estonia in September for a 30-day holiday with friends. But two weeks in, she and a friend were hit by a car. Her friend didn't survive. Four months later, Valdmann is not sure when she'll be able to walk, let alone return to her home country.
"I'm scared a little bit right now," she said. "Everything is upside down."
The community has rallied around the unquenchable 35-year-old. Though she never intended to set up residence in Utah, Valdmann is quick to point out that "This place is full of angels."
The first two weeks of Valdmann's trip were "perfect," she said. Valdmann had dreamed of visiting the United States since she was a small child. "It was in my soul," she said. After being baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last year, those hopes centered on Utah, where several of the missionaries who taught her the gospel live.
"As soon as I arrived, I felt like I was with family," Valdmann said. She settled in with Veronica Wright and Jessica Wilson, both 28 and living in Provo. Valdmann and Wright met in Estonia when Wilson took a teaching job there last year. Though she'd not previously met Wilson, Valdmann said they "became fast friends."
The three spent every minute together. They took dance classes at the local gym, took a tour of downtown Salt Lake City and tried out nearly every hamburger joint in town.
"They don't really eat hamburgers in Estonia," Wright said. "Inge was really excited to try everything."
On the day of the accident, Wilson and Valdmann, who, by this point, were confiding secrets to one another, made themselves ice cream cones and took a walk, leaving Wright, who was on a phone call, at home. The girls chatted about their families, the Mormon church and men as they meandered around campus at Brigham Young University. Completely content, Wilson spread her arms, looked up to the sky and announced to Valdmann, "If I had to die right now, I'd die happy."
Thirty minutes later, the two were struck by a car. They were in a crosswalk, but Valdmann recalled later, the pedestrian traffic signal was red. The driver was distracted, police reported, and did not see the women.
Valdmann doesn't remember much, just a flash of light and pain — lots of pain. Her first thought, when she came to in the hospital: "Where is Jessica?" But she didn't find out that her friend was gone until after doctors wheeled her out of surgery. It was Wright who had to break the news. Four months later, her voice still breaks when she recalls that moment. "It was really hard," Wright said. Since then, though both women put on brave faces, things have continued to be hard.
Valdmann spent the first two weeks after the accident flat on her back in a hospital bed. She couldn't get up to go to the bathroom. She couldn't even roll over.
"It was humbling," Valdmann said. She's since given up on getting embarrassed, "I can't do anything without help. There's no point."
She had nowhere to go after she was released from the hospital. Country View Manor, a local nursing home, offered her a room. A few weeks later, BYU found an apartment on campus for her to live in. Dozens of people who had never met Valdmann but who had connections to Estonia (mostly former LDS missionaries) contacted her and offered help. One family, whose 19-year-old son is currently serving a mission in Estonia, took her with them to Moab for Thanksgiving and offered her a place to celebrate Christmas.
"There are good people all around me taking care of me, worried about me," Valdmann said. "I don't know how to describe the feeling I have inside. I am helpless, useless and a little bit scared. But more than anything I am grateful."
Wright's LDS ward has kept Valdmann fed, provided Christmas decorations for her bare apartment and driven her back and forth to Central Utah Clinic for rehab. Her social calendar is full, too. Sometimes her new friends take her out. Sometimes they spend the evening playing games at her apartment. One friend even took her out for pedicures (her first ever) so she could "feel like a woman again."
"It's easy to give service to Inge," said Bishop John Row of the Provo Peak 12th Ward. "She's a loving, gregarious, positive individual."
In the meantime, though, Valdmann's life has gotten complicated. She has no money. Before coming to Utah, she was laid off from her job as a consultant. She cannot collect unemployment in the United States because she is not actively seeking a job. She has also run into immigration issues. Estonians are allowed to visit the United States for 90 days without a visa. Her 90 days are up, but, though she's applied for a visa, she doesn't know where she'll get the money to pay the required fees. She doesn't have health insurance and the medical bills are piling up.
Last week the doctor told Valdmann her right leg, which had to be patched together with a dozen screws and a metal rod, is not healing correctly. She will have to go back under the knife at the beginning of January. The doctor will not let her leave the country until she is back, solidly on two feet — a process that could take several more months.
"I want to walk again," Valdmann said. "I want to dance again. I want to hike and ski again … and I will. I just don't know, right now, how I'm going to get there."
She still grieves for Wilson, but her own situation, she assesses with dry eyes.
"I really am," she said, "such a blessed girl."
Friends have established an Inge Valdmann Fund at Family First Credit Union (branches in Utah County).
e-mail: estuart@desnews.com