From shark bites to yacht fires, South Florida trauma survivors show gratitude for their medical teams
Beyond the daily tragedies of car crashes, gunshot wounds and bike accidents, South Florida trauma units treat the unexpected.
Those traumas have included a Pembroke Pines plane passenger injured in a crash, a West Palm Beach construction worker crushed by an excavator, and a Miami boater set ablaze by a yacht fire.
And then there was the 24-year-old who fell into shark-infested waters and suffered a gaping hole in his leg. Doctors at St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach cleaned the wound to prevent infection and stitched the footlong bite.
This week, trauma survivors returned to the South Florida hospitals that took lifesaving measures to keep them alive. They celebrated their recoveries and heaped praise and gratitude on the medical teams that provided their care.
Trauma Survivors’ Day has become an annual celebration that draws back patients who benefited from high-level trauma care available in about a half-dozen South Florida hospitals.
Palm Beach County resident Roy McCarty, 83, returned to Delray Medical Center with the mangled tire of the bicycle he rode when hit by a car. Thrusting the tire in the air, he explained that three things saved his life: the wheel that took the brunt of the hit, the coincidence that he landed on the driveway of a fire department, and the trauma team at Delray Medical Center that provided emergency care. He spent 11 weeks at the hospital with a fractured spine, a punctured lung and all but two ribs fractured.
McCarty told fellow survivors and medical staff at the hospital that it took him a year to fully recover.
“I am extremely grateful to have each day,” he said at the hospital’s survivors’ day event on Wednesday.
He is back riding his bike, but only short distances, and not on the road, he said.
Megan Bishop survived after a plane crashed into her car, killing her 4-year-old son Taylor. During a ceremony for trauma survivors, at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024, she met with some of the rescue workers who helped save her. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Elissa Diener and her fiancé Thomas Trout survived an accident and were recognized by Memorial Regional Hospital and their staff on Thursday. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Megan Hobson, a gunshot survivor, and patient advocate told her story to other trauma survivors at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Adam Solymosi told his story of survival and recovery along with his Mom Maria Solymosi at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Hospital staff and rescue workers listen to stories by trauma survivors at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Hospital staff and rescue workers listen to stories by trauma survivors at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Dr. Chauniqua Kiffin, Adult Trauma surgeon listens to stories by trauma survivors at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Hospital staff and rescue workers listen to stories by trauma survivors at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Friends and family members along with hospital staff and rescue workers listen to stories by trauma survivors at Memorial Regional Hospital on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dozens of trauma survivors reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers to celebrate Trauma Awareness Month. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Dr. Dean Hertzler, Chief of the Pediatric Neurosurgery Program at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, spoke to trauma survivors as they reunited with hospital staff and their rescue workers on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Dr. Hertzler, was on the beach when he heard gunshots. Instead of running away, he ran toward the victims and helped a gunshot wound victim and helped “Stop the Bleed”. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Trauma surgeons, doctors, nurses and caregivers who spoke at celebrations noted that it is rare they see their patients after they are fully recovered — making Trauma Survivors’ Day particularly meaningful.
At Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Dr. Tamar Levene, a pediatric surgeon, and her team treat thousands of patients annually.
“One of unique things about serving the community in South Florida, is we have nice weather year-round so we see bike accidents and drownings 365 days a year,” she said.
The most common traumas are pedstricans striuck by cars, or bike accidents, she said.
However, she has treated less common traumas, too, during her eight years at Joe DiMaggio: a child falling from a balcony, water park injuries, dog bites, and just recently, a boy whose hand required major reconstruction as the result of a drone accident.
Levene said anywhere from 10 to 20 medical staff participate in trauma care for a patient, and often specialists are called in.
“There is a lot involved in assuring someone’s physical and mental well being,” she said.
Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.
