At 18, fresh out of high school and working three jobs, I fainted behind the wheel one morning and drove my car into the path of a pickup truck. The collision sent my head through the windshield, breaking my nose, severing her lips and knocking out nine of my front teeth. "That's when I developed a new relationship with God...I was just thankful that I wasn't dead or paralyzed." In the months following the accident, I went through probably 11 surgeries, during which my nose was reshaped, my teeth were replaced with porcelain look-alikes and my lips reconstructed with skin from the back of her mouth. As she recovered, I rekindled an earlier interest in weight training under the tutelage of my older brother, and I decided to try competing. I felt lucky that I could still do it. I started training more and enjoyed it, and I thought I'd take advantage of the abilities I still had, and learn more. On my first trip to the state championships in 1999, I took first in the fitness category. As a pro I compete in four shows a year, prepping for each with a 16- to 20-week regimen aimed at tightening my physique and dropping her weight from her normal 117 to a more vascular 100 pounds.