Where are they now? Woman nearly killed in crash day after HS graduation beating all odds

Where are they now? Woman nearly killed in crash day after HS graduation beating all odds

(Courtesy of Lisa Nielson)


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This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

Editor's Note: This is part of a new series on KSL.com where we do a follow-up article about Utahns who we have previously featured on KSL. If you have been the subject of a feature story on KSL in the past and would like to be part of our "Where Are They Now?" series, email cwilliams@deseretdigital.com for consideration.OGDEN — All Marjorie Medina knows of the crash that nearly claimed her life two years ago is that she was driving with her cousin and her cousin’s son the day after she had graduated from high school.

She knows that because her family told her and because it’s in police and court documents. Everything else, including previous precious memories of life, vanished the moment another driver, who was convicted last week of driving while on a controlled substance and causing the accident, slammed head-on into her car.

“My cousin was with me. She was awake and conscious the whole time. She told me a little bit about it,” Medina said, of the accident. “I don’t want to say it brings back the memory, but I feel like I know what she’s talking about and I know what’s going on.”

However, two years later — despite more than 60 days in the hospital recovering from numerous injuries literally from head to toe — Medina is piecing her life back together while also proving wrong the original prognosis doctors gave her.

The crash happened on May 21, 2014 — not long after Medina celebrated graduating from Weber High, where she also was a member of the school’s softball team.

Marjorie Medina's vehicle after the accident. (Photo: Courtesy of Lisa Nielson)
Marjorie Medina's vehicle after the accident. (Photo: Courtesy of Lisa Nielson)

Her mother, Melissa Medina, said Marjorie was placed in a medically induced coma and that doctors told Melissa and George Medina that Marjorie may need assisted living for the rest of her life if she survived.

“Originally, there was no chance — none whatsoever,” Melissa Medina said, reflecting on the days after the crash. “Her injuries were so bad, they couldn’t operate on her for the first couple of days. She had a grade 5 liver laceration, which pretty much had they considered surgery, she would have bled to death. … After she got out of ICU, they took off the induced coma medicine. Once they took that off, they waited for her to wake up. And they waited and waited. She wasn’t waking up at all.”

So the Medina family asked the doctors to perform a CT scan on Marjorie. That’s when doctors discovered she had suffered a traumatic brain injury, Melissa Medina said.

“Once they had determined that, they told us ‘She’s never going to wake up. She’s going to be like this forever and you need to find her a nursing home,’” Melissa Medina added.

With the odds against her, Marjorie eventually woke up after two weeks in a coma. However, even that came with complications.

“I woke up from a coma thinking I was 16 years old when I was actually 18,” Marjorie said. “I don’t remember any time between there, and then when I woke up from my coma, I still don’t remember that part, so my memory starts back again maybe about a month after my coma.”

Then there was the rehab from other injuries, from broken bones up and down her right leg to pulled ligaments in her left knee.

“I had to relearn how to walk,” she said. “I would say that was probably the most difficult just because I had broken my entire right leg, and so even putting any weight on it hurt so bad. I pulled all the ligaments in my left knee, so I mean putting any weight my leg was just — I was just in so much pain.”

Nevertheless, she was released from the hospital after two months of recovery. Two years later, she proved the initial prognosis wrong. She can talk, drive, eat and walk, though she said she still struggles with walking long distances.

“I don’t know how — I don’t know how she did it,” Melissa Medina said. “It’s been a complete miracle by all means. It’s definitely taught us patience. I don’t think anybody really understands the impact of what a person goes through when they suffer a traumatic brain injury. There’s definitely a lot of emotions — almost like a rollercoaster. … It takes a toll on a family.”

“I should not be where I’m at now,” Marjorie added. “I shouldn’t be walking, talking or even functioning. The fact that I am is a complete miracle.”

While at the hospital, the Medina family struck up a friendship with a woman who came across the wreck in May 2014. The woman, Lisa Nielson, would go on to form an ongoing connection with the family, though Marjorie said they don’t contact as frequently two years later.

Marjorie Medina’s first day without her tracheotomy, five weeks after crash. (Photo: Courtesy of Lisa Nielson)
Marjorie Medina’s first day without her tracheotomy, five weeks after crash. (Photo: Courtesy of Lisa Nielson)

As for rehab, Marjorie credits her softball background for helping fuel her through her rehab process. At times, she said, it felt similar, minus throwing around a ball.

“In softball practices, you have to push yourself,” she said.

The final hurdle came in court. Ogden police arrested the other driver, Benjamin Brocksmith, in connection with the crash. He was later charged with being under the influence of marijuana when the wreck happened.

On June 21, a jury found Brocksmith guilty on two counts of third-degree felony driving with a measurable controlled substance in 2nd District Court, court documents show. A sentencing hearing is slated for July 28.

For the Medina family, the conviction brought a much-needed sense of closure, though Melissa added that she’s unsure any sentence will provide complete justice.

“It’s not that anybody wants to see anybody go down, but at the same time, if you make a mistake, you’ve got to be held accountable for it,” Melissa Medina said. “He may spend a couple of years in prison or whatever the case, but knowing what my niece went through and what my daughter went through — to me, they’re going to end up serving their own life sentence.”

As for the future, Marjorie said she’s looking forward to moving past the accident, and living a life that she and others once thought unlikely.

“I’m looking at going back to school,” she said. “I think I want to go into psychology just because of everything I’ve been through.”

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