UNDATED (CNN) -- There are certain moments in life that are so intense, so exceptional, they're etched in our memories forever. Or maybe not.

What's black and blue and has fur all over? A Canadian motorist who hit a moose, lost all memory of the accident, and drove the car damaged 25 miles to arrive at work on time.

Co-worker Cindy Paulson came running. "And I said 'Michelle, what happened?'And I said, 'Nothing.' And she asked me if I was ok and I said, 'Yeah, why wouldn't I be?'"

Blood streaming down her swollen head. She says, "I said 'Michelle, you were in an accident.' She said, 'No I wasn't.'"

But when she turned and saw her car, the one she had just stepped out of, she said, "I was devastated to see the state my car was in."

Next stop, the hospital. Michelle Higgins has been recovering ever since from two broken bones in her neck and bruises galore. She calls a hoof print a scuff mark.

But the moose looked worse than Michelle did. Police found it dead on the side of the road. Michelle was driving from home to her job as a behavior therapist in Gander, Newfoundland.

She believes she rounded a bend on the Trans Canada Highway and struck the moose, peeling back the top of the car. Officials told her, "If I'd been an inch taller it would have taken the top of my head off."

She has no memory of driving the next 25 miles. She says, "I made two lefts and a right."

Michelle says the memory loss really bothers her. She says, "I lost $5 a few years ago and still drives me crazy wondering where it is. Now I've lost my mind."

Finally a pair of pedestrians came forward confirming they'd seen her driving by. She may never go down memory lane with her moose, but she's happy. She says, "I'm breathing and I'm walking." Michelle says there was moose fur all over the car, all over her clothes.