Meet Our Survivors

Adeline is the heart and soul behind Addi's Miracle TBI Advocacy and Pedestrian awareness as well as Survivors against distracted Driving.

Christmas week of 2022, Adeline was looking at Christmas lights with her Dad and 2 of her Brothers when she was struck by a distracted driver. The impact sent Adeline flying 100 feet airborne, coming to a stop when she hit a curb. She had a lot of angels on her side that night. A PA was close to the scene, leaving work when he heard the accident and saw Adeline in the air. He ran to the scene and was able to get antsy hands to step back so that he could begin CPR. The accident had stopped Addi's heart and she was not breathing on her own.

Chandler Fire Dept arrived on scene (You can click the link to see a reunion with Addi and her fire angels where they speak about what that night was like for them) they loaded Addi up and she was taken to the local Trauma unit connected to the Children's hospital in Mesa, Arizona, with police escort.

When we arrived, we were taken up to PICU where Addi already was being looked at by the pediatric physician and neurosurgeon. We were told that she had internal bruising but also a broken c1 and c2, a cracked skull and at the time they could only tell us she had a severe Traumatic brain injury, which later ended up being a grade 3 diffuse axonal. At the time however we were told to start making plans. The neuro firmly told us that he sees patients come in with less trauma that do not survive. He told us the first 24 hours would be the utmost critical but that the first 72 would be detrimental to what way Addi would go.

Addi fought incredibly hard and broke every statistic. They expected at best that she would be a quadriplegic possibly only able to track with her eyes.  Every time a Dr would shake our faith, Addi would show that God is a faithful Father of miracles and she was stronger than the Dr's knew. I created "Addi's miracle" On Facebook as an easy way to keep everyone updated once a day and she quickly gathered followers from around the world that prayed for her without ceasing, and they still remain faithful followers of her journey.

Addi ended up having her neck fused just after the 73 hour mark. 2 weeks in PICU, 1 week on the pediatric floor and a transfer to Phoenix Children's Hospital for a min. of 6 months of acute inpatient rehab, she relearned how to walk with the help of a machine. She had to relearn how to drink and eat, how to do simple tasks like bathing, using the toilet. 6 months became 3.5 weeks.

It has been a year and half, December 2024 will be her 2 year mark. She continues to shock us and is the definition of a miracle. Her story and testimony is one that renews faith in those who are burdened by everything going on in this world. 

As her parents, we are so thankful that she fought and continues to fight so that we can be a vessel of support and education to those who find themselves in this unexpected and unfortune journey. 

Kyle was a young, healthy Father of two young kiddos and Husband to a great Wife before his accident on December 29th, 2023. A Union Worker, on his way home from work late on the night of the 29th, driving home minding his own business and driving safely was hit from behind by a speeding aggressive driver who was involved in a separate road rage incident. In attempt to keep control and remain on the road, Kyle found himself being pulled from the road onto the shoulder. Speed and trajectory caused his car to flip 4-5 times. At some point, he was ejected through his sun roof. He flew approximately 100 feet, stopping when he hit a tree.

The driver who hit Kyle, fled the scene. Witnesses behind Kyle, stopped. A woman was able to locate Kyle and kept him awake and talking until frontliners responded to the call for help.

He was taken to the local Trauma center where he was taken for emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen, foam was placed into his body to stop internal bleeding. A coil was placed in the renal artery serving as a plug. Additionally, Kyle had severe bodily bruising, a collapsed lung, abrasions, 16 fractures including front and back of collarbone bone, ribs, spinal discs.

He spent time in ICU in critical condition eventually moving to a regular floor to begin PT. Eventually he made it home. He has been in recovery for the last 10 months, recently returning back to work.

Kyle is without a doubt, a miracle. He is thankful to be alive so that he can continue to watch his Daughters grow. Raise awareness to distracted driving and support other drivers who have found themselves on a similar journey.

 Rylei is another Pediatric Pedestrian survivor. Rylei was skateboarding to his girlfriends house on 1/1/25, in a crosswalk when he was struck by a vehicle.

He was thrown 100 feet. From what his Mom was told he began having seizures on the scene. He was transported to one local hospital to be stabilized before he was then taken to PCH, where he remains to this day.

Rylei's injuries were a broken upper arm, a broken leg, fractured skull and he has a severe TBI. He was on life support for 10 days, he woke up on day 11 and had surgery on his arm and leg on day 15. He is now in inpatient rehab where he is learning to walk and better his balance as well as many other things in OT and speech.

Rylei is a tall kiddo! At 14 years of age he stands at 6 feet and has always wanted to be in the NBA. Even in rehab he takes his shots and is watching sports. He is fighting hard for his recovery.

You can stay up to date on how Rylei is doing by going to Facebook and joining "Rylei's Recovery: A Community of Hope and healing."  

  Good morning Kate,      
Go pour you a big cup of coffee. My story is long.
On December 9, 2010 at 11 am I was on my way to finish my grocery shopping. One of the routes that I took was on a county road that has a lot of big rig traffic. I was at a stop light on a very busy intersection. One of the things that my husband taught me is that when I was at a stop light put the car in neutral to put less stress on the transmission. So I was in neutral when I heard the air horn from a semi behind me. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the grill of a semi. Then I felt a sharp pain in my head. . .
I remember someone talking with me and trying to put something around my neck. I was told that I was in an accident and that they needed to take me to the hospital. Now comes the key. . .I kept asking why, why did they do this. In the paramedics mind that is not normal. Most people ask what. That was the deciding factor in me going to a trama center.
I am in and out of consciousness on the ride to Denver General. When I get to the ER I dept asking for someone to call my husband. Giving his number. Now I don't know if this really happened as much as it seemed but, the nurse finally had the pastor call. It took about an hour for my husband to get there. I remember the neurosurgeon and my husband talking about surgery to relieve pressure on my brain. The CAT scan showed that I had a brain bleed.
That day changed my life forever. I was not the person that I used to be. One second I was Gale, the next second I was someone else. I was confused, angry, frightened of everything. Bill and I did not know about brain injuries and brain trama. For the next nine months we dealt with repeated conversations, sudden outbursts of anger, and PTSD when I was in traffic.
When I got the police report to get the driver's insurance information I got to read what she told the police. She was on her 10th load of the day and had been having that kind of schedule since Thanksgiving. She was saving up money for Christmas. She was doing up to 20 loads a day. She was tired. DOT regulations were not followed. (Note: My son is an OTR driver and I have learned a lot about the dos and don'ts of what they can and can't do.) She was going between 45 and 60 miles an hour when she hit me. She hit my three times and finally came to rest on my bumper on the other side of the intersection. God was there, no traffic came thru the light at the time of the accident. There were witnesses. A work crew in the bar ditch heard the sound of the horn and looked up and saw a shower of glass as she hit me. No skid marks to show that she tried to stop.
I hired a lawyer four months later who dealt with semi traffic accidents. All of the testing to prove that I was indeed hurt. I had no external wounds. It was my brain. That needed to be proven was damaged. I learned that it takes five years for the brain to "heal" as much as it will ever heal. So in stages we had to prove this. Two years after the accident I started the cognitive testing to get a baseline. Five years after the accident more cognitive testing and brain scans.
The brain scans showed how much of my brain was damaged beyond repair. To see the blues and blacks on that color scan was scary.
But God stepped in and started to show me His healing. Man was telling me that was damaged and would never be right again. I would not be able to do the things that I could do before the accident. By faith in my Father I took His hand and we walked my path to where I am today.
It started early. On those days when the confusion took over I felt His presence near me. When the panic attacks started I felt His calming presence. When the pain was overbearing I felt His healing hand. (Note: I was going thru cancer treatments at this time. When I could not sleep He sent a little bird to sing to me - at 3am. So this little bird was my physical sign that God was there.)
In 2012 we moved to Arizona. God's timing for my healing place. With the Arizona heat I was able to heal from most of the joint damage. One of the areas that was damaged in my brain is the area that controls my sense of hot and cold. I don't know when I am overheating. God sent people in my life that would tell me to go inside to cool down.
God also started to work with me on the panic attacks and PTSD. I had a great fear of driving outside of Maricopa. My first trip on my own was to Casa Grande to get my drivers license changed. I had to trust God to get me there and back - no GPS. Then Bill started traveling for his job. I needed to drive him to Sky Harbor. God used this to help me in overcoming the panic attacks. He would bring to mind Scripture. Eventually the panic attacks lessened. In the year before we moved to Indiana I had very little panic attacks.
Now we are in Indiana. My husband drives to Chicago where the home office is. My PTSD is not gone. I am unable to drive in Chicago traffic. With all of the semi traffic I am not safe in driving. So Bill and I agree that I can't drive to Chicago. I have tried and come to accept that fact. My PTSD is so bad that when my son became an over the road trucker I could not get out of the car to meet him at his truck, I could not watch the movie Convoy. 

Every day brings different emotions. Today is hard. Every task brings different feelings. I am still learning to live with that.

On May 22nd, 2024 while driving home from a Doctors appointment, Jeff, Katie, Lukas, Daniel and Addi were traveling home on the freeway. Due to construction, 3 cars ahead of theirs began to break, so Katie did as well. She was able to break in time but the person behind them was on the phone and was unable to react in time before rear ending their vehicle. 

Less than 2 years after Addi's pedestrian accident and injuries of a grade 3 Diffuse Axonal Traumatic Brain Injury, c1 and c2 displacement and fusion. 

Jeff's injuries were whiplash, lower back pain. Lukas; whiplash. Katie; Lower back pain. Daniel, thankfully was not injured. Thankfully the family has slowly healed from the bumps and bruises. Addi however was diagnosed with Secondary Impact Syndrome. 

While this story is mild and not as serious as Addi's additional story, Kyle's story and others still to come, it involved Addi and the outcome could have been so much worse. It is not worth being in a hurry, speeding, or touching your phone when you are driving. 

 It was April 21 2001.4 weeks before high school graduation. My birthday was April 17 and my mom had ordered me fuzzy seat covers for my cute little car. I went to pick them up but the business was unexpectedly closed due to a family emergency with the owner. Had they been open, I would have been at the business longer and chances that I would have been hit head on by another vehicle.

 I was heading back home going the speed limit in middle of rush hour traffic at 4pm on 27 th avenue heading south. A red truck came out of a trailer park and didn't  stop to look both directions. He tried get across all 4 lanes of traffic and he was on his phone. He was distracted by his phone and didn't pay attention to the fact that he was quickly heading into the southbound lanes.  He didn't cross over all the way. There were cars in all directions and I had nowhere to go. I thought this was it, I'm dead! He hit me head on and spun me so hard my speakers and radio flew out into the street. My legs were completely crushed under the dash. BUT, I felt nothing except a little bit of dizziness, I was in shock... I remember so many people from the bus stops and random cars stopping in the middle of the street to come to my aid.  I remember trying to open my door but it was too crashed in to open. A handsome black man came to me and held my hand. At  the time I didn't know why he wasn't trying to open the door and get me out. He looked down at my body and when his eyes went down so did mine.  I threw up at the site of it. My right femur was broken in half. He told me as soon as they pull my body out from the dash, I may go into shock. He was talking to me asking questions to keep my mind off it and to keep me focused on him and not what first responders had to do to remove me from the car.  I remember all of the witnesses at one point screaming "what is a number I can call for your parents..."I screamed out my mom's work number and she must have had 20 calls back to back.  The police assured me that I didn't do anything wrong, that there were plenty of witnesses. The officer  did however ask if that was my cell phone? I told him I didn't have one. When they spoke with the man who was an older man he told the cop the phone on site was mine which was a lie..as the firefighters broke the back window and pulled me out the back to a stretcher ,the phone rang, it was the mans wife. Busted! I remember it felt like it took forever to get to Saint Joe's trauma center because of traffic.  The medics and driver kept asking me to repeat what they said to keep me to stay awake. I couldn't. They gave me morphine for pain and my body had a bad reaction. So they had to go faster. I had immediate surgery to save my leg. I now have a metal bar and screws in my right femur and knee. I couldn't walk and had to relearn . My boyfriend at the time helped me. It took 6 months to relearn the  walking process and I had to graduate in a wheelchair I also had to pause my veterinarian college classes.  To this day everyone knows I'm in pain. Especially if it's raining or cold. I still limp as well plus I have disgusting scars on my butt, hip,leg and knee from staples.  The seat belt squished me internally as well which caused damage to my female parts. I was told that I'd never have kids..I have  had 8 miscarriages but I also have 7 beautiful children! Each one has special needs of their own.

I thank God everyday I'm alive.  I don't know how though because it was head on.  I have been told that God wanted me alive to take care of special needs children. I wouldn't have it any other way. I advocate not only for my own children but other children with special needs and Autism who deal with bullying.