Kyle’s Accident
“It was the first day back to school after Christmas vacation. My sister drove us. We were in the back seat. The car hit black ice, slipped across the lane, and a work truck t-boned us. I got the brunt of it.”
Just minutes after helping her three children into the car and waving goodbye, Kim got a phone call that they were just in a horrible accident. Her daughters sustained only minor injuries but her 13-year-old son was in a helicopter heading to the hospital and may not make it. She called her husband, Steve, who was already at work: “I was wailing. I couldn’t do anything.”
Steve immediately left work for the hospital: “About halfway, I got a call from a Priest. He wouldn’t tell me how Kyle was doing, just that they were prepping him for surgery. When I got there, they took me in to a private room and gave me the list of his injuries. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You never know what you’re going to get, even with the description of all those injuries. Until you see it.”
DONATE NOW TO HELP KYLE GET HIS OWN BIKE
Kyle’s Injuries
Kyle had 27 broken bones: both legs, both arms, multiple ribs. His braces held his broken jaw together. His spleen ruptured. He had damage to his optic nerve. He had tubes inserted into his trachea and stomach. His aorta was torn; that alone is almost always fatal but Kyle’s pericardium sac didn’t rupture. That saved him.
“We were devastated,” said Steve. “Your whole world changes. In the snap of a finger. The next two years were all about Kyle. It wasn’t about what I needed, what Kim needed. Every day for over a year, she would spend the night at the hospital or I would. The doctors were all doom and gloom but our faith got us through.”
Kyle Today
After the accident, “Every day it was an appointment. Every kind of therapy we could think of. My dad was encouraging me to reach out to IM ABLE. But I was shy.”
Kyle’s triumphant return to competition was this past summer. He borrowed a bike to train for and participate in IM ABLE’s annual Duathlon as part of relay team. He loved it. “Training was therapy, but it was fun too. You have to make it happen,” says Kyle. “You can’t just sit there and wait.”
Your gift has power – your donation today will help us say “YES” to Kyle and anyone else who just needs the proper adaptive equipment to get off the sidelines and into the action.
Why Donate to the IM ABLE Foundation?
IM ABLE was founded in 2007, just a few years after Kyle’s injury. The first equipment grant recipient was five-year-old Jordan McCown who was given a handcycle that changed the trajectory of his life. Jordan is now going to college on a wheelchair basketball scholarship: “IM ABLE really helped me to achieve my dream.”
Over the last 15 years, with your support, IM ABLE has shown thousands of people of all abilities that they can redefine possible in their own lives; they can achieve their dreams too.
Our generous donors and volunteers made this possible and we can’t thank them enough.