ORLANDO, Fla. — Mona Rodriguez is working to be positive every day. The midfielder with the Central Florida Crusaders professional indoor soccer team watched her life drastically change this summer after a motorcycle accident left her with a number of physical, mental and emotional scars. 

“If you have a passion for something, don’t say, ‘Maybe next year.’ No, life is too short,” Rodriguez said.

“It’s a good day for a good day,” Rodriguez wears the slogan proudly on her T-shirt. The simple reminder had been there for Rodriguez for a long time, including a period when she didn’t know if there would be another good day.

“I feel like I was about to die. I was going to die,” said Rodriguez. “I made it through.”

The fight for her life began this summer as she was leaving work to go to the gym.

“The only thing I remember from July 11, I was coming here to do CrossFit to work out. And I told one of the coaches and my good friend, Tori, I said, ‘I will see you there.’ They never saw me,” said Rodriguez.

What happened next for Rodriguez all faded away, with no memory of the devastating accident that would follow. 

“No, just that I was coming here. That’s all that I can remember,” said Rodriguez.

She later learned that she was riding her motorcycle to her CrossFit gym when a truck didn’t see her while turning and hit her from the left side. Orlando Police shared she was following all the rules of the road and was not at fault for the accident. Next thing Rodriguez knew, she was waking up in the hospital with a world of questions. 

“I didn’t know what was going like, what am I doing in hospital, why I have too many scars, so many surgeries, so many. My memory has nothing, no memory. I don’t know who I was,” said Rodriguez. “What was my name? Where was I born? I didn’t know friends. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk.”

The accident left Rodriguez with a number of broken bones, including her pelvis, hand and ankle. She also suffered brain bleeds, which affected her memory, speech and mobility. 

A tragedy like this would be nearly impossible for anyone to go through, but even harder for a professional athlete like Rodriguez. The Colombia native came to America to play college soccer on a scholarship. She eventually came to Orlando with goals of playing division one or playing professional soccer. She spent this past season as a versatile starter for the Crusaders’ indoor soccer time. Soccer has always been her driver.

“I feel the time you put in that, like every practice, people looking at you, you have motivation,” said Rodriguez.

It has now been four months since the accident and Rodriguez is defying the odds each day. She had to relearn how to walk and talk, both of which she is doing comfortably now. She goes to physical therapy and has incorporated soccer into her rehab. 

“I’m learning like a kid, you know? Cause I’m super slow, I cannot do skills like I used to, but you know I couldn’t even touch the ball before,” said Rodriguez.

She was bedridden in the hospital for nearly two months, retaking her first steps at the end of August.

“The nurses ask me, ‘How you feel?’ I say, ‘I feel alive,’” said Rodriguez.

With the help from friends and family, including her mom, who has joined her from Colombia over the past few months, memories have flooded back about her life. 

“I can’t believe that’s me. Like I was playing soccer, professional soccer. So I say, ‘Well, you know what? I need to go back soon,’” said Rodriguez as she watched clips of her playing with the Crusaders this season.

She’s working every day to get back to playing soccer and reminding herself: it’s a good day for a good day.

“I like to live my life the way I want to live, which is today,” said Rodriguez. “Tomorrow I have other plans, but today is today.”