Story Lines: Sweet, Little Kayson

by Melody Brady, Kayson’s Grandma
Duchesne, Utah

On June 27, 2008 our daughter Shayna along with her 7-month-old son Kayson were on their way to Flaming Gorge in Utah.  She stopped at Wal-Mart in Vernal, Utah to call me and ask where a few things were.  About an hour later my husband Darren came and asked me if Shayna had gone somewhere today.  I said yes she was on her way to Flaming Gorge.  I could immediately tell something was wrong.

He told me he had received a phone call from Jeff Chugg, a friend of ours and also the Lieutenant of the Highway Patrol in Vernal.   He told Darren that Shayna and Kayson had been in a car accident.  They were life-flighting both of them, and that we should head to University Hospital for Shayna and Primary Children’s Medical Center for Kayson.

Darren asked what had happened?   Jeff told him that apparently Shayna was heading up to Flaming Gorge and a dump truck full of gravel was coming down.  The driver of the dump truck said it looked like Shayna was looking back for something, and when she looked forward she had crossed the double yellow line.  The driver could see what was about to happen and tried everything he could to get out of her way.  There was a cement barrier so he couldn’t get over very far.  He said they made eye contact and the look on Shayna’s face was scared to death and didn’t know what to do.

They collided head-on.  It took rescuers 45 minutes to free her from the vehicle.  Gasoline from her vehicle and diesel fuel from the dump truck leaked all over the road.  Officers were concerned that a fire might start.  One of the first responders took Kayson, still in his car seat and screaming, to another vehicle in case of a fire, when he first arrived.  They were not able to do anything for Shayna because she was pinned in the vehicle.  A man at the accident told me later that he never left Shayna’s side and held her hand, trying to calm her down.  He said she kept trying to say something, but all they could get out of it was Kayson’s name.  She was worried about her baby boy – he was her life!

They transported both Shayna and Kayson by ambulance to Ashley Valley Hospital in Vernal where they were then life-flighted.  We got to University Hospital and Shayna was already in surgery, it would be hours before we could see her.  We walked over to Primary Children’s but it would be awhile before we could see Kayson.  Not knowing what was going on with either of them was the WORST!  Darren and I, our daughter Shantae, my mom Joe, and my sister Brandi, were all sitting and waiting when someone from University Hospital came to talk to us about Shayna.  She said as you know, when they brought Shayna she went straight back to surgery.  She had a broken arm, both her legs were broken,  she had two open fractures to her pelvis.  There was a pause and she said, ” we did everything we could but she didn’t make it.”  The worst news a parent could ever hear! I was thinking to myself how could this be possible, how was I to go on?  I wanted the world to stop because my life just did.

Poor little Kayson only 7 months old had lost his mommy.  He would never know how cute and fun she was.  He was the only thing that mattered to her.  Our son Skyler finally made it and we had to break the news to him.  Our family will always be missing a piece of our hearts.

We were finally able to go see our little Kayson.   To see him lying there, not knowing his mommy was gone, broke my heart!  He had a tramatic brain injury, head and brain trauma, skull fracture, neck injuries, several broken bones, bleeding on his brain and he was in a coma for 6 days.   The doctors told us the first 4 or 5 days were going to be the most critical, they kept telling us that they may have to do surgery to relieve the pressure on Kayson’s brain but they didn’t want to.

Not sure if Kayson was going to make it or not, we had to come home and take care of his mom’s funeral.  I had ask a good friend Jodi Reinhardt to go to the hospital and stay the night with Kayson because he was still in very critical condition.   After the funeral service was over I got a call from Jodi saying Kayson had made a dramatic turn around, and he was out of his coma.  It was bittersweet news.

We were able to start holding Kayson again.  He had a long recovery but got a little better and a little stronger every day he was in Primary Children’s.  For 3 weeks we watched as he made a full recovery.  When we took Kayson back for his 1st check up after we got him home from the hospital the doctors said to us, “remember all those times we kept telling you we may have to do surgery on his head to relieve the pressure off his brain but we didn’t want to?”   They said their were many doctors that had several sleepless nights wondering if they did the right thing and if Kayson was going to make it through the night.  They told us they didn’t think he would have made it, if they had to put him on the operating table.

Today Kayson is a healthy, very spoiled (we like to call it well loved) 4-year-old going to preschool and loving life.  Doctors at Primary Children’s tell us that Kayson is a miracle!  We truly owe everything to Primary Children’s.   Because of them, we have our Kayson!  Every year since we have lost our precious Shayna we have decorated and donated a tree to the Festival of Trees in the name of Shayna.  The proceeds from this event go to help patients and families at Primary Children’s.  I want to thank all the doctors and nurses that took such good care of not only Kayson, but the rest of our family.  While we there they definitely treated all of us like family!

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Story Lines is a feature on Play Ground telling personal stories and experiences about the hospital – written by the individual. If you would like to share your experience on the blog, please contact us.