Teen Wrongly Reported as Dead Is Making Remarkable Recovery
19-year-old nursing student Grayson Hucks broke four bones and suffered a moderate brain injury in May. Now, she's making an inspiring recovery. (Photo: Go Fund Me/Grayson Hucks)
In May, 19-year-old Grayson Hucks was mistakenly reported dead after a 6-car collision in South Carolina. Now, one month later, Hucks is making an incredible recovery, thanks in part to money raised through a Go Fund Me page established by her loved ones.
On that rainy Wednesday, Hucks was driving home from her summer internship at Beach Urgent Care, a local clinic, when she was involved in the multiple-car pileup on the US 17 Bypass. Her car was hit head-on.
“I called my mom around 3 p.m. just to check in. We probably hung up around 3:10 p.m., and the accident occurred at 3:30 p.m.,” Hucks told People. “It’s crazy how your entire life can change in just a matter of minutes. It’s scary.”
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Reporters and officials initially reported that Hucks was dead when they pulled her unconscious body from the car and media reports deemed the car accident fatal. The collision shut down 17 Bypass for almost five hours, a local news organization reported.
The 6-car collision resulted in crushed vehicles, cars flipped on their sides, and debris scattered across the southbound lanes on US 17 Bypass. (Photo: AJ Janavel/WBTW)
Later that evening, Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard confirmed to WBTW News that no one had actually died in the crash. “But I was so very near death, that original claim really wasn’t far off,“ Hucks told People.
Hucks, who studies nursing at Francis Marion University in Charleston, was initially treated at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach. The car accident resulted in a broken ulna, broken knee, broken tibia, a fractured sacrum, and a moderate brain injury.
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Two weeks later after the accident, Hucks began rehabilitation at Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center in Atlanta.
Although Hucks’ medical insurance helped with the hospital bills a bit, expenses started piling up. Her family and friends started a GoFundMe page so Hucks could afford the best care possible. As of Friday, supporters have raised more $18,500 of the $20,000 goal.
Shepherd Center doctor Ford Vox told People that Hucks made a remarkable recovery while at the facility. And much had to do with her bright outlook on life.
(Photo: Go Fund Me/Grayson Hucks)
"She was only here for five days, which is really record time,” he says. “Her personality has been critical to her recovery. Some injuries change people, but she is very well motivated. You get out of it what you put into it, and she’s giving it her all.”
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12 days ago, Hucks was discharged from rehab in Atlanta and returned home to Myrtle Beach for outpatient therapy, per her GoFundMe page.
In order to better focus on making a full recovery, Hucks has decided to take classes at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Conway, South Carolina, in the fall. But she plans to return to Francis Marion in the spring to continue her nursing studies. “There is no doubt in our minds she will make a great nurse!” her boyfriend Dustin James wrote on her GoFundMe page.
“I just can’t wait to get better, I have things to do!” Hucks told People. “I feel a lot more determined to go out in my life and become a nurse. I know how they impacted me in the hospital, and I want to be able to do that for people.”
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