CONCORD, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – A Concord DoorDash driver is recovering after having her car stolen while making a delivery last Tuesday night. Now, she says her sense of security will never be the same.

“Laying down sleeping, all I see is flashbacks of everything happening. The what-ifs, the should-have, could-have, would-haves going through my head,” said Lauren Brooks. “It was down on Union Street, and I got down there, and I got out and I sat the order down on the porch just like I normally would. I took my phone and went to go snap the picture and when I did that, I heard my car door open.”

Brooks said she ran off the porch of the home where she was delivering food and tried to stop her carjacker from getting away. Unfortunately, she ended up getting hurt.

“We made dead eye contact and then he ended up flooring it, and when he floored it, he ended up throwing me off the car onto the right-hand side, which is how I bruised my face,” she said. “I bruised my arm, my hand, and my leg and my ankle.”

It’s not just the bruises or the stolen car and wallet that scared her. For Brooks, the stakes were much higher. She has stage five kidney disease and DoorDash is just one of the multiple jobs she works to pay off her medical bills.

“When I didn’t have my car, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know how I was going to pay for my medical expenses and medicine and everything else,” said Brooks.

Kannapolis police officers located the car three days later. brooks said they told her three people were inside. Concord PD confirmed Kannapolis PD made arrests in the case and Brooks was able to recover her car.

“To have my car back is great. I just wish I had my purse and everything else that was in my car,” she said.

Brooks went back to doing DoorDash deliveries this past weekend but said she no longer stays out past sunset.

Fingerprint dust on her car and bruises still covering her body are reminders of a situation Brooks just wants to forget, but she’s using what happened to her to send a message to other delivery drivers.

“Pay attention is the biggest thing. And lock the doors,” said Brooks.