Colleen Kelly Alexander, 38, lives in Connecticut with her husband, two labs — Jamis and Coda — and a cat named Luna. A lifelong athlete and motivational speaker, she has spent her life chasing positive change, determination, and gratitude in action. Cycling came first: her father, an avid cyclist and bike-shop owner, passed his love of the sport to his daughter early. As soon as she'd mastered running laps around the house as a toddler, she took naturally to her first set of wheels — the wind in her hair as she pedaled forged an instant, lasting connection between Colleen, her bike, and the road.
Her young adulthood was steeped in physical activity — running, swimming, and outdoor adventure all competed for her attention — but cycling remained at the center of it, and she spent countless hours building her endurance on the long, straight roads of Florida.
Reconnecting with her high school sweetheart, Colleen dove into triathlon training alongside him. In 2009, she underwent brain surgery to correct a Chiari malformation. She recovered well, and shortly after, amid a demanding training schedule, he proposed. She went on to overcome a lupus and cryoglobulinemia diagnosis that same year, pushing forward to become a competitive triathlete.
On a cloudless October morning in 2011, while riding her bike home on Boston Post Road in Madison, Connecticut, a thirty-ton freight truck struck her from behind, rolled over her, and dragged her along the road. When medics arrived, they found her mangled from the stomach down — a broken pelvis and a severely de-gloved abdomen, legs, hips, and pelvic region. She flatlined within minutes of arriving at Yale Trauma Center.
"The pain was intense, like fire," Colleen remembers. The truck had torn open her abdomen, broken her pelvis and legs, shredded her leg muscles, and stripped the skin from parts of her lower body. Amid the sirens and voices, the sound she remembers most is her own heart — pounding the instant she saw the truck coming, then laboring to keep her alive as she lay bleeding. She screamed, believing that as long as she could yell, her heart was still beating. But on the way to Yale-New Haven Hospital, it stopped. It took medics twenty minutes to resuscitate her, and twenty-four hours later, they had to do it again. More than a month passed before she could breathe on her own. As her body slowly healed, she returned to running — but the rhythmic sound of her own exercise, once a source of peace, now triggered panic.
Colleen received more than seventy blood transfusions — whole blood, platelets, and plasma — after her body was left with nothing left to pump. She spent over five weeks in a coma and endured more than twenty surgeries and extensive wound care as her body fought to heal. Defying her doctors' grim predictions, she returned to compete in more than fifty races, including three half-Ironman triathlons.
She has never forgotten the heroes who carried her through it: the bystander who ran into the road to stop traffic after she was hit, the medics on scene, and the trauma team that cared for her, tenderly, every single day she lay unaware. More surgeries remain in her future, but she is alive, and thriving — something she credits, at the heart of her recovery, to the strength of the human spirit, prayer, healthy food, exercise, rest, and a constant, conscious gratitude.
Featured on Fox News Connecticut, The Dr. Oz Show, WFSB Eyewitness News 3, Runner's World, and New York Road Runners, among others, Colleen has become a spokesperson for American Red Cross blood services and has worked alongside Nobel Peace laureates. Her story underscores a belief she holds firmly: there is a hero in everyone, and the power to triumph over adversity is universal — even against the longest odds.
"I am honored to share how I survived, and the power we each have as individuals when we truly believe in ourselves," Colleen says. She still lives with chronic pain and ongoing medical issues, but continues to fundraise, advocate for blood donation and cycling safety, and push herself as an athlete — crossing finish lines, giving her medals away to the people she calls her heroes, and standing as proof of what anyone can endure. Learn more about Colleen at www.colleenkellyalexander.com.