Jordan: Only 16

Late on a Saturday afternoon last spring, the phone rang at the home of Becky and Fred Hurst with the news that every parent dreads.

Their 16-year-old daughter, Jordan, was driving home from a prom dress fitting when her car slid on a rain soaked curve into the path of an oncoming SUV. There was nothing either driver could do. The SUV slammed into her car with such force that the passenger side door pinned Jordan behind the steering wheel.

At home, the Hurst’s daughter Hannah answered the phone. “I heard her say ‘CareFlight’ but I didn’t know who she was talking about,” remembers Becky Hurst. “I ran down stairs and she said Jordan was in an accident…”

Jordan’s boyfriend Chris lived around the corner from the accident. His sister saw the collision and called him from the scene. When he arrived, firemen were using the ‘jaws of life’ to free an unconscious Jordan from her mangled car. Chris called the Hursts. Within minutes Jordan was prepped at the scene and en route to Miami Valley Hospital via CareFlight.

Fred and Becky Hurst arrived at the Shaw Emergency and Trauma Center as CareFlight landed at the hospital. Jordan was so badly hurt that it took some time to determine the extent of her injuries. “We spent several hours in the waiting room that night,” Becky says. “Initially there was the possibility of a broken vertebra. That scared us because we didn’t know if she might be paralyzed. We just didn’t know at that point.”

During Jordan’s surgery, the Hursts met with a chaplain, CareFlight nurses, an emergency physician and the ER Patient Representative. They also prayed. Around 3:00 a.m. they learned Jordan was out of surgery and stabilized. While there was no paralysis, Jordan’s injuries were serious. “Her liver and spleen were lacerated, she had eight broken ribs, both lungs were lacerated, and her stomach was pushed up into her chest, which caused a collapsed lung,” Becky remembers. “They told us that all of her injuries were serious but that she could survive. She could heal from all of these injuries, but it would take a long time.”

For three-and-a-half weeks Jordan was in a medically-induced coma breathing with the help of a respirator. Her parents stayed with her night and day in the Intensive Care Unit. Becky took the night shift and Fred remained during the day. “She opened her eyes on Mother’s Day,” Becky says in tears. “She mouthed to us: Why am I in here?” We told her she was in an accident and everything is going to be OK.”

While they were encouraged about her chances for recovery, Jordan’s medical team cautioned that her recuperation would be a long one. Patients suffering multiple injuries often undergo weeks or months of extended therapy; everything from re-learning how to speak and eat, to walking, dressing and other activities of daily life.

After she awoke, respiratory, speech, and physical therapists were scheduled to begin Jordan’s treatment. She was told she could expect to spend anywhere from one to three more weeks in the ICU, followed by up to a month of physical rehab. Jordan’s response: “I give you a week and I’m out of here.”

Within days, Jordan was talking, eating, and walking down the hallway of the ICU, very much ahead of schedule. Medical staff was astonished by her determination and rapid progress. “Some of the nurses were clapping, there were three doctors, and they were filling the room. It was like a miracle was happening,” said Fred Hurst. “One nurse said that in sixteen years she’d never seen anyone recover so quickly. Jordan walked thirty feet down the hallway and her therapist said: “You shouldn’t be able to do this. Patients don’t normally walk out of the ICU.”

One week to the day after her self-imposed deadline, Jordan was discharged. Her parents credit the CareFlight team, her physicians and nurses, and their faith for Jordan’s rapid recovery.

“Thank God they have that helicopter and that it got there so quickly. The medical training and experience they have: I think that’s why she made it. CareFlight is a lifesaver,” Fred says. “We were so impressed by the conscientiousness of the nurses and doctors. They paid such close attention to detail. It seemed like they were constantly working on her. We were there 24 hours a day so we saw it firsthand. One of her nurses suggested we pray together, and we stood there and prayed over her.”

“She had so many people praying and she was so determined,” says Becky. “The nurses would hug her and comfort her. They really have a lot of compassion; you know when somebody really cares. The doctors and nurses were always reassuring us that it was going to be alright, that, even though her injuries were serious, she would eventually be able to heal from everything.”

“We never asked the doctors or nurses what her chances were,” Fred says. “We were reacting to their reassurances and optimism.”

“It never occurred to me that she wasn’t going to make it,” Becky adds, “because they were always encouraging us and I always believed in my daughter. And in prayer.”

The Hursts sum up their feelings this way: “I’m so thankful for CareFlight and the hospital,” Becky says. “I would definitely encourage people to donate to MVH. How do you tell a family, ‘We don’t have the funding to save your child?’ You would give anything, even your life, to save your child.”

“MVH is saving lives,” Fred says, “you can’t put a price on that. You can’t. Those people, their expertise, that service: it all has to be there when it’s your child. We know. And we’re very grateful they were there.”

Seven months later, Jordan has made a complete recovery from her injuries. We thank the Hursts for sharing their story. It is typical of the vast majority of letters MVH receives from patients and their families.

Contributions from the public have had a significant impact on the Shaw Emergency and Trauma Center. For example, the Hursts were comforted by Dawn Greenwalt, the Patient Representative in the Emergency and Trauma Center. The Patient Rep is available to patients and families only because of donations to the Foundation. Jordan needed the services of the MVH Lift Team, another program only available because of private contributions.