In 2006, on a routine commute home along Washington’s Capital Beltway, Cameronne pulled off on her exit only to be greeted by a line of backed up cars. She came to a stop and turned her head to look behind her as a car rear-ended her, going 60 miles per hour. Rather than totaling the backside of her car, the force of the impact lifted her car off the road, breaking the entire underside of her car. She was left debilitated and tipped forward in her car. A paramedic found her quickly and braced her head until reinforcements arrived. She was then strapped to a backboard and her neck secured in a neck brace. In the process, her pearls were yanked from her neck. Cameronne, seriously injured but coherent yelled, “Save my pearls!” She then pleaded, “Please, save my pearls!”
Once secure at the hospital, Cameronne was told she had suffered a serious accident and she would be okay. She got a chance to make a phone call and, instead of dialing her family, she called the man she had recently begun dating. And those pearls that Cameronne pleaded to the paramedic to save? Well, the paramedic delivered them to her in an empty red hazmat bag. The paramedic had managed to save every pearl that fell when her necklace was broken.
She has since had her broken necklace repaired. She still has numbing in her shoulders and arms but otherwise has completely recovered from her accident. And that young man she called? In her words, she says, “I knew when he was the one I wanted to call that he would be the one I would marry.” They married years later and now have two children!
Save my pearls is Cameronne’s pearl story. It sounds like more than her pearls were saved that day on the Beltway. Thanks Cameronne for sharing your story!
India
I am a modern day treasure hunter who travels the world for gorgeous pearls and amazing adventures. I own a pearl jewelry and jewelry repair business, ThePearlGirls.com, with a cute retail store in Athens, GA. I also have a Pearl Travel business and travel blog at TheWorldofPearl.com.
