Beating the Odds

    On February 23rd 2006, a drizzly day, a pickup truck skidded sideways out of control as it topped a hill. The driver of a dump truck was surprised to see it careening toward him as it crested the hill and noted that it spun around just in time to slam into him head on. The dazed driver of the pick up got out of his truck and walked over to the other driver—who had gotten out of the dump truck. According to the driver of the dump truck, the other man asked, “What happened?” Paramedics arrived and made the decision based on the nature of the accident and the damage to the vehicle to put the driver of the pick up on a back board with cervical collar and transport him to ORMC. His vital signs were stable and he seemed a little confused but his only complaint was of some chest pain.

    The driver of the pick up truck was a young man named Bruce Harrison—an otherwise healthy 22 year old man. When Bruce arrived at the ORMC ED for the first time he was noted to have a decreased blood pressure. He repeated himself a lot—and continued to complain of chest pain. The main concern at this point was that Bruce might have a brain injury and/or one of the most dreaded injuries possible, a traumatic aortic rupture. This is an injury that results in death at the scene in ~90% of the accidents in which it occurs and involves a ripping open of the big blood vessel that exits the heart and supplies blood to the whole body. The nurses and technicians in the ER worked rapidly obtaining IV sites, obtaining blood for labs, etc. Then Bruce was rushed to the CT scanner where in a matter of minutes scans were done of his head, neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis. The results of these scans showed that there was no obvious brain injury but otherwise confirmed the worst—that Bruce had a completely transected thoracic aorta with blood filling his chest cavity and dissecting down into the back and pelvic area. The only chance of survival for Bruce would be if he could be transferred rapidly to a major trauma center with the resources and expertise necessary to deal with such a catastrophic injury. The trauma surgeon in Macon, Dr. Julie Wynne was contacted at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, MCCG. She immediately set things in motion at MCCG to prepare for his arrival and expected surgery.

    In the meantime, ORMC worked feverishly to get Bruce ready to go to Macon. Dr. Sarah Mack recalls, “I really was afraid that Bruce wouldn’t make it. I wanted his wife and his mother to speak to him before we put him to sleep and sent him to Macon—since I was honestly not sure they’d ever get to speak to him again if we didn’t let them do it then. At the same time, we needed to get him moved as rapidly as possible.” She asked them to come in and speak to him briefly and asked that they be positive and try not to upset him. The ORMC staff recalls that brief meeting. Bruce’s mother prayed over him—out loud. She said that she had given Bruce’s life over to God a long time ago. She prayed that God’s will would be done—whatever the outcome. “She didn’t pray your typical prayer” recalls Wendy Newsome, ED Nurse Manager at ORMC. “Frankly, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place by the time she was done.” Then Bruce was put to sleep and put on a breathing machine and transferred to Macon. There he would be met by a spectacular team of surgeons and nurses—including Dr. Richard Harvey, cardiothoracic surgeon, and Dr. Dennis Ashley, General/Trauma Surgeon.

    The family recalls that Dr. Harvey told them that there was a fairly high risk that Bruce would be paralyzed—if he survived the surgery. Bruce had several tubes coming out of his chest and had to have a tracheotomy. He was in MCCG for a total of 23 days. Bruce’s sister, Jennifer, recalls that soon after the surgery they went in to see him and his legs were crossed. She recalls her joy as the family saw him move his arms and legs and realized that he was not paralyzed. They recall when he was finally able to speak to them.

    Bruce himself says that when he was almost ready to be discharged he thought he had only been in the hospital for 1 day! He doesn’t remember anything else about the accident or anything else that happened in either hospital. He says that it took about two months for him to regain his strength after he was discharged. He recalls how kindly he was treated by his coworkers at the Milledgeville Walmart—and how everyone worked with him so that he could start with “light duty” before going back to his primary job in the seafood section. “That place really works together like a family”, he recalls.

    On a more somber note, Bruce’s mother, Patricia Harrison recalls that Dr. Harvey told her that some hospitals in Georgia are considering dropping their level 1 trauma center designation. The tremendous financial burden of dealing with so many uninsured patients—many of whom require difficult operations with prolonged recovery times—is overwhelming individual hospital’s ability to remain solvent. Mrs. Harrison notes that if for some reason that should happen in Middle Georgia, the next closest trauma center will be MCG in Augusta—1 ½ hrs away by ambulance. There has been talk of forming statewide trauma networks; but this requires the financial backing of our legislators. Unfortunately, so far, there has not been any serious movement in getting this done. Mrs. Harrison says that she intends to speak to local groups and do what she can to make people aware of the great need to keep our trauma centers open. Dr. Mack adds, “The number of people and resources involved to save even one life in major trauma cases is phenomenal; but if the life saved is yours or someone you love, you need for that system to work.”

    Today on October 16th at the ORMC ER a group of people assembled to celebrate Bruce Harrison’s birthday and his amazing recovery. There were doctors, nurses, x-ray technicians, administrators, and of course Bruce and his family. There are an unfortunate number of traumas in which there is little chance of a good outcome. This is one that beat the odds.

    Happy Birthday, Bruce!

Oconee Regional Medical Center

821 N. Cobb Street • Milledgeville, GA 31061
PO Box 690 • Milledgeville, GA 31059
(478) 454-3505
Copyright 2006