Episode 024
Wrecked, Bruised, and Still Standing – What Real Healing Looks Like with Lillian Mumford
She woke up in an upside-down car, miles from home, with a shattered pelvis – and still tried to project manage the rescue.
Lillian Mumford was riding in an Uber, two states away from home, when a car crash turned her world literally upside down. One moment she was the new hire on a business trip – the next, she was lying on the roof of a totaled vehicle, unable to move. What followed was a year of learning to walk again, living with traumatic brain injury, and figuring out how to ask for help when every bone in her body wanted independence.
In this powerful conversation, Lillian shares how she coped with physical trauma, managed emotional rage, and discovered what healing actually looks like – hint: it’s not linear, and it’s definitely not glamorous.
She’s also hilarious, by the way – even when talking about crutches, two right shoes, and learning to breathe like her life depended on it (because it did).
“I used to think I didn’t need help. Then I couldn’t get from one room to another without it.”
Connect with LILLIAN:
- LinkedIn: Lillian Mumford
Timestamps:
00:00 A normal business trip – until the crash that changed everything
03:10 Waking up in the wreck – two right shoes, broken pelvis, and triage mode
06:55 Hospital life – learning to walk again, one terrifying step at a time
09:15 Living with pain – and the emotional toll of being dependent
12:28 Breathing for survival – how meditation and the vagus nerve saved her sanity
16:46 Anger, rage, and the uncomfortable beauty of feeling it all
21:07 The power of her village – puzzles, ice cream, and tiny moments of grace
24:12 Parenting while healing – how her son became her biggest cheerleader
29:15 Living with traumatic brain injury – and letting go of “who I used to be”
33:27 Letting go of perfection – and allowing for growth in every messy step
39:26 Graduating from trauma – and rediscovering her purpose