Trisha Meili, the victim in the celebrated "Central Park jogger" case, spoke last week to students at her alma mater, Upper St. Clair High School, about the lessons of resiliency she's learned through her recovery.
A 1978 graduate of the school, Ms. Meili, 45, said the lessons can be applied to any painful experiences in life, not just those at the level she suffered. Her message was not one of resentment or anger, she said, but of "resilience."
Seniors attended her speech in the theater, while the other students saw it on classroom TV monitors. The session was arranged by Dan Holzer, teacher and senior class adviser. After learning that Meili was an alumna, Mr. Holzer started up an e-mail correspondence, which lead to her appearance. "It's important that students learn to believe in the power of themselves and there's nobody better to teach this,'' Mr. Holzer said of Ms. Meili's appearance.
While running in New York's Central Park on April 19, 1989, Ms. Meili was raped and beaten so badly that she lost 80 percent of her blood and fell into a coma for 12 days. Besides blood loss she had massive brain damage and her eye socket was crushed. When she regained consciousness, she had forgotten what had happened the day of the attack.
After seven weeks in New York's Metropolitan hospital, she did six months of rehabilitation at Gaylord Hospital, a long term acute care center in Wallingford, Conn.
That's when she learned her first lesson, the importance of support. Besides the devotion of friends and family, she said, she received an "outpouring of support" because her story made headlines all over the world. Gifts included everything from poems by children to healing oils and holy water.
Although many rape victims blame themselves, she said, the support confirmed that she wasn't at fault. That's why she encourages victims of sexual assaults, including acquaintance rape, to tell someone.
Employers can be supportive, she said. When she was learning independent living skills in Connecticut -- "I was going through a second childhood" -- her employer back then, the investment firm of Salomon Brothers, sent her a sign reading "Salomon Brothers: Connecticut Branch," which made her feel as if she were at work.
A runner who used to cover six or seven miles on a typical Saturday, Ms. Meili learned another lesson when she wobbled to the starting line of her rehab hospital's quarter-mile track.
She was overjoyed while crossing the finish line because she was proud of what she could do, instead of worried about what she couldn't.
Another lesson came when she was in therapy to regain control of her hands. She had to pick up nails with tweezers and put them in a hole while the therapist stood behind her with a stopwatch.
"I'm amazed that I wasn't consumed with the fear of the future," she said. Because of the intense focus the therapy demanded, she learned to improve her life in general by concentrating on the tasks at hand, not the future or the past.
In 1995, she ran the New York City Marathon on a route that took her through Central Park. She felt that she was reclaiming the park as fans cheered her on.
"For me, the process of healing and growing never stops," she said.
Ms. Meili, daughter of Jack Meili of Bethel Park, was born in New Jersey and moved to Pittsburgh in the 1970s when her father was transferred by the old Westinghouse.
A former Wall Street investment banker, she and her husband Jim Schwarz now travel the nation as she gives motivational speeches. She is also the author of "I am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility" published in 2003.
First Published: November 23, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
