GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Highland man was discharged from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation (MFB) after five months of recovery from a crash that happened back in August.
Sawyer Pierce, 28, was on the road when a truck rammed his car head-on, sending it 100 feet backward. MFB says first responders needed to use a crane to lift the truck off his car. Until then, he was trapped inside for an hour.
“He shouldn’t have survived the accident, or the hour in the car, or the 20-minute drive to the hospital,” says Kelly Pierce, Sawyer’s mother.
We’re told the crash left Sawyer with a broken arm and leg, 10 broken ribs, two collapsed lungs, a traumatic brain injury and a ruptured spleen. While in the ICU, he came down with pneumonia and had six surgeries, seven blood clots, infections, and he had chest tubes put in.
After that, Sawyer was moved to MFB where he started undergoing intensive rehab. That included physical, speech and occupational therapies.
The hospital tells FOX 17 Sawyer was admitted in a state where he couldn’t do anything on his own. Now he is home and able to move around with a cane.
Dozens of hospital staff accompanied Sawyer as he left the hospital, rooting him on while wearing shirts bearing the phrase "#SawyerStrong."
“Walking down the tunnel, seeing all the people there, the tears just started flowing,” says Pierce. “Everyone here is a champion; I’ll never forget it.”
MFB says Sawyer will receive outpatient therapy two to three times each week as his recovery continues.
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