GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Kullan Wittman and Zoey Wedge were driving through the intersection of 68th and Division to get coffee before cleaning the living room seven weeks and one day ago, when a car t-boned them.
“I was pulling out, and it turned white,” Wittman said.
“I didn’t know it was really like the movies, where everything is kind of slow,” Wedge said.
Zoey escaped the accident with scratches on her knees. Kullan's brother in the back seat escaped with nonlife-threatening injuries; however, the crash sent Kullan to the ICU.
“Kullan injured his spinal cord, in his neck, at the C4-C6 level. That’s where your arms and your legs are controlled,” Dr. Jonathan Vandenberg, a physician at Mary Free Bed, said.
Kullan woke up at the hospital to find out he might never walk again.
"They told me I was a quadriplegic, and I might never move again," Kullan said.
His girlfriend of more than a year, Zoey, never left his side. In fact, she flat-out refused to.
“I told Zoey, I’m breaking up with you. I can’t do this to you. You’re too young to have you commit to this for the rest of your life,” Wittman said.
“I said it takes two to have a breakup, you can break up with me, but I’m not breaking up with you. I’m here. I’m not going to leave,” Zoey said.
It's Zoey's unwavering determination that Kullan says has kept him going, even in the darkest days ahead.
“I wasn’t able to move my hands at all, my feet. It started slow, with my fingers. I could move my thumb,” Kullan said.
Now, Kullan can hold Zoey's hand again. A small sign of progress, followed by bigger milestones.
“I’ve been an emotional wreck this whole time," Zoey said.
After weeks of therapy, Kullan was able to stand on his own again, and even walk with assistance. Slowly, he got stronger, with Zoey by his side the entire time.
“I don’t tell people they’re never going to walk again, because I think there are so many possibilities," Dr. Vandenberg said.
Kullan knows how lucky he has it.
“The nurses and doctors told me some people get in my position, they give up. But with Zoey by my side.. I kept looking forward to the future. Not to sound dramatic or anything," Kullan said.
A future he cemented in the intensive care unit.
“He looked over at me and asked if I’d marry him,” Zoey said.
Zoey replied yes, of course. After watching the man she loves nearly die three times after the injury, a future together means more than words can describe.
“I love this man to death. I wouldn’t be here every day and night if he wasn’t the one,” Zoey said.
The couple plans to move to Wisconsin, so Kullan can be closer with family while he recovers in outpatient therapy. Doctors say people with spinal cord injuries, when incomplete like Kullan's, can see progress after injury for up to 18 months after the injury.
“I feel like part of the recovery is having her there. Having someone there with you,” Kullan said.
Kullan's next move is shaving, on his own, for the first time since the accident. He's excited for that small aspect of regained independence.
Kullan and Zoey are looking forward to forever, together.
