MIAMI BEACH, Fla. --
Zena Friedman remembers what was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime to Bali with her sister.
The pair from Miami Beach had saved up for a year, working at their Coconut Grove hair salon. For them, it was a spiritual journey -- until Sept. 27.
"We walked out of the hotel, and when we did that, a taxi came and hit me," Friedman said.
A taxicab crashed into her and fled the scene.
"My sister thought I was dead for at least seven minutes," Friedman said.
"I saw her for seven minutes, just dead," sister Chere Friedman said.
Zena Friedman was rushed to an intensive care unit in Bali
"It was very scary. There were many times I didn't know if I'd be back here," Zena Friedman said.
The 63-year-old suffered a concussion, a ruptured spleen and 11 fractured ribs, and had little hope in a very foreign country.
That's where Miami-Dade Fire Lt. Jim Dolan came in. Through word of mouth and news articles, he heard what happened.
"And I noticed that there's nobody quarterbacking this," Dolan said.
His company, InFlight Medical Professionals, soon donated its time, a massive coordination effort and an in-flight ICU. That ICU allowed Zena Friedman to make 37-hour trip that started in Malaysia and ended Thursday night in Orlando.
"I could sort of see the light at the end of the tunnel," she said.
A trauma doctor from north Florida traveled for free. Donations have been collected on Facebook, and funds have been raised at the sisters' salon in Coconut Grove.
Zena Friedman said it seemed fitting that her spiritual journey ended right back in South Florida.
"I am so grateful that I am alive, that I have another chance. Because with everything that happened, I could not have been here," she said.
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