Gayle Fein Petrillo

The Accident Gayle Fein Petrillo

The Accident captures the sweet, playful and giggly personality of Gayle as a near 3 year old. She's off with her mom to a grown-up tea party. Her life is suddenly changed by the physical and emotional scars left after a terrible accident.



Gayle becomes fearful of everyone and many things following her accident. She shares her compelling story of the challenges she faced with great courage. And, as a now confident woman, she wants other children going through a trauma to learn and be comforted by her own extraordinary path to personal and professional success and to know they are not alone.




The Accident was created at the urging of a friend whose daughter was born with a blood cancer. They wrote a book - Pokes, Pinches and Loose Wires - to support parents, teachers, clinical staff and childhood patients. Kathy Bell, Founder of John P Bell Family Foundation, heard me speak very briefly about my accident at a fundraising event and encouraged me to write a book about it. What was interesting to me, until that moment, I had never told my story, and later heard from members of the audience how it touched their hearts.