William's Story

Williams’ Story
By Denise Boggs, mother of TBI survivor.

On March 26th of 2005, while traveling from North Carolina to Florida, our two children, Casey and William, and I were hit by an 18-wheeler. We were crossing a four-lane road when the truck t-boned our car at a speed of 60 mph. The Semi struck our SUV right behind William’s seat.

Paramedics miraculously arrived in two minutes, not expecting survivors from such a horrible impact. A miracle began to unfold when the Paramedics arrived and found Casey alive. She pleaded with them, “Please help my brother, he isn’t breathing.” They found William in the back seat, in a pool of blood, not breathing.
The paramedics quickly preformed an emergency tracheotomy and airlifted William to SHANDS trauma center in Jacksonville, Florida. William arrived at the hospital in a coma and was put on full life support. Due to the impact, William suffered a traumatic brain injury and several strokes. The doctors in the trauma center did not give us much hope of William coming out of the coma with so much damage to his brain. The impact was so great from the thousands of pounds of pressure, that they suspected the brain was severed from the brain stem. They said that if he did live, he would be remain in a vegetative state or have a very low quality of life at best.

As you can imagine, my husband and I were devastated at the report. We had been given very little hope. But we know a God that works miracles. Our family and friends began to support us in prayer, believing God for a miracle. As thousands across the country came into agreement for a miracle, we had a front row seat as God performed it. On April 19th of 2005, William was transported by medical plane to Charlotte Rehabilitation Center, in Charlotte, North Carolina.


Now let’s let William talk...

The first thing I remember was waking up and realizing something was wrong. I couldn’t talk or move. I was told I was in Charlotte Rehab in Charlotte, North Carolina, but I didn’t understand that I had a traumatic brain injury. The first thing I remember seeing was a huge green tree out the window of my hospital room and my family all around me. They comforted me and kept telling me not to be afraid, that God was taking care of me.

Over the next few weeks, I slowly began moving. I went from not being able to move my left leg at all, to moving my toes, then my foot, and then my leg. As I sat in my wheelchair in the hall of the hospital, watching others being pushed in their wheelchairs, I asked God to help me walk again. Weeks went by and I could feel something happening inside my body. I was gaining strength each day and able to stand up with my nurse, or parents holding me, and then I took my first step. I learned, step by step, with the help of my therapist, Ms. Shana. I didn’t understand then why I had forgotten how to walk. Once I progressed to the stage of learning to walk with a cane, I decided my goal was to walk out of Charlotte Rehab when I was discharged. The day finally came for me to go home; it had been 72 days since our accident. Praise God, I was finally discharged. It was obvious He heard my prayer, because that day I was able to walk out the door of the Rehab.

But, God did not stop there working in my life. After I got home, I began family and outpatient therapy. My family worked with me almost non-stop, every day. It seemed as if everything we did was turned into some type of therapy. In some ways it was like waking up from a long dream and trying to figure out why life had changed while I was sleeping. But, as I became more aware of what had happened to me and saw how God was healing me, my faith grew stronger and stronger and I asked Him to help me run again. Before the accident I was training as a cross country runner, and the day before we left on our trip I ran seven miles. So it became my goal to run cross-country.

Month after month, as my speech, motor skills, and walking all continued improving, I was encouraged, but I still couldn’t run. I was determined not to give up. I kept working and believing God would help me reach my goal. My short steps and walking kept improving. Then one day, I was able to walk without assistance to the end of our hall. My family cheered me on, worked with me, and encouraged me to keep going, believing that God would rebuild my strength so I could run someday.

I kept working on building my strength through good nutrition, and food for my brain cells. I exercised both my body and my brain daily. My brain had to be trained and exercised. My mom would say, “We have to train your brain, tell your brain to move your arm.”

After many months of PT, OT, ST therapy sessions as well as training and feeding my brain, I relearned many of the basic things. But, when I left Charlotte Rehab, I was only on an elementary level of understanding in many classes, even though I was a freshman in High School. The cognitive therapist said I would need special classes, and would not be able to return to my grade level. But, in the fall of 2005, I returned to my Christian School, and with assistance and limited classes, I was able to begin my sophomore year of High School.


After a year of hard work, I was able to jog. I would stumble and fall, but I would just get back up and keep going. God kept restoring me and I was able to join the cross-country team in my junior year of high school. On my first cross-country meet I placed 11th out of 60 runners.


My senior year was very hard, but I did well and graduated! When I spoke at my graduation ceremony, I told my class that life will be full of obstacles; it is how you face these obstacles that determine the outcome. I gave God all the glory for how He had helped me to face my obstacles and overcome them. I now know more than ever, that He has a great plan and a purpose for my life. I want the rest of my life to be an encouragement to others with brain injuries. I want to tell as many people as I can, “Never give up, trust in God.”

William Boggs