Stylist finds her strength after surviving horrific accident

On March 31, 2007, Noel Cosh was driving down Route 23. It was around 4 p.m., and she was headed from her job as a hair stylist, in Sparta, to take an important test as part of her volunteer work at the Wantage Volunteer Fire Department. Suddenly, a car was in front of her. She swerved to avoid it and .... Two and a half months later, Cosh woke up at Kessler Institute in West Orange. The accident had been horrific, and it was a miracle she’d survived. The Trail Blazer she’d been driving had rolled several times; she was in a coma. Rescuers had gotten her out of the vehicle and she was transported to Morristown Memorial Hospital where she stayed for several weeks. When she started to come out of the coma, doctors induced another so her body had more time to heal: especially her neck. As Cosh awoke, she didn’t know where she was or what had happened, but was surrounded by family and friends. “The first feelings I had were ones of gratefulness for all of them,” she said. Then she realized she couldn’t talk. Doctors told her family that they didn’t know if she’d talk or walk again, but those two options didn’t exist in Cosh’s mind. She was 22 and she was determined to overcome the impossible. And she did. “I’ve never worked so hard in my life,” she said. “I had to jar my memory of little things and learn to form words again.” She worked diligently on her speech and just as hard with her physical therapists to learn to walk again. But the big missing link was her right hand — the nerves had been badly damaged. But that was the hand Cosh used to style hair, so again, there was no way she was going to concede and give up a career she’d worked so hard to build. When Cosh left Kessler to return to her Wantage home, she started going to Progressive Health, a rehabilitation center specializing in brain injuries. She started at their Milford, Pa., location, then advanced enough to get therapy and start training more locally, at the Fit Experience in Sparta. Steve Crane, the owner, worked with her, and even held several fundraisers to help Cosh pay for medical expenses. “Tom Kraus and everyone at the gym have been such a help to me,” she said. Cosh had made amazing strides, and now she was eager to go back to work. But there was one small problem. The salon in which she’d worked her way up to stylist, after graduating from Sussex Vo-Tech, didn’t want her back. “It was pretty devastating,” Cosh said, “They considered me too much of a liability, so my job and my customers were gone.” That, however, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Ellen McDonald, owner of Salon Serendipity in Sparta, heard of Cosh’s story. “I didn’t think twice. Of course I’d hire her,” McDonald said. At first, because her hand was still rehabilitating, Cosh was only able to assist. “Right away, I saw how dedicated she was and how strong a work ethic and desire to get better she possessed,” said McDonald. “I’ve never met anyone like her.“ A few months later, 23-year-old Noel Cosh was back on the floor styling hair. “I love it here,” Cosh said, “Everyone who works here is so nice, and I love the emphasis on education and professionalism.” Cosh’s neck will bear the scars from the three shredded vertebrae for many years to come, and the mark from the tracheotomy will remain. But Cosh is in no way scarred inside. Her willpower and resolve have made her a stronger person than she ever thought imaginable. “I love my job, I love to work out and I’m so thankful to everyone who’s helped me along the way.”