PERSEVERANCE…in the face of tragedy

Abigail Barnes, her cousin Halsie Barnes, friends Ella Leonard and Madalynn Stewart were leaving the Union County fairgrounds last summer, when their vehicle proceeded through a stop sign crossing at Highway 34, resulting in a t-bone collision with a pickup.

One young gjrl succumbed to her injuries at the scene, and the other 3 girls were life flighted to MercyOne and Methodist hospitals in Des Moines with serious and life threatening injuries.

After arriving at the Methodist Hospital in Des Moines on July 21, 2023, Abigail was rushed into emergency surgery and put into a medically induced coma for three weeks to allow her body to heal from multiple injuries. Doctors who cared for her early on were skeptical they would ever get to see her awake.

The Barnes family credits Krisha, a member of the trauma team at Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, for standing by during the most crucial moments.
“She wanted to come check on me one night,” Abigail said she was told, “My blood pressure was getting too low, and she called in the trauma team.”

After her care team brought her out of the coma, Abigail had no memory of how she got there, and had a lot of work to do.

“Because of the injury done to my brain, I had to learn how to speak, breathe, walk and eat,” said Abigail.
Fighting towards recovery, Abigail achieved the first round of milestones, and went on to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, NE.

“In Nebraska I learned how to read, count and drive,” said Abigail.
Another big milestone towards recovery was celebrated, but she still had a long road ahead.

She returned home in November of 2023, unable to understand how or why she was injured in a car accident three months earlier.
“My grandfather told me he was so happy to see me at Thanksgiving because no doctor could guarantee I would be able to do anything alone,” said Abigail, “This information hit me like a brick.”

Although she had been told about the accident that claimed the life of her cousin and two friends, her brain was unable to remember.

“I finally understood how bad the accident was when I comprehended that I was the only one alive,” said Abigail, “The loss of my friends hurts like nothing I have ever felt before.”
She remembers the Fourth of July last year, but nothing after that until around November.
“I am happy I remember the Fourth because that is the day I met Ella,” Abigail remarked.

Although her cousin Halsie moved in with her and Sam Stewart prior to the accident, she has no memory of their time together.
“It is a weird and scary feeling to live through such a long amount of time with no remembrance of it,” Abigail said.

After being released from Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, she began outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy at On With life in Ankeny two days a week.
“Here I did activities such as running, jumping, memory games and lastly, take my drivers test,” states Abigail, “I was able to finally get my license.”

While she was excited about getting her license, she wasn’t thrilled about missing her twenty first birthday.
“I had to go and get my license updated because I had turned twenty-one in my coma,” Abigail said.

Her disappointment was overcome when she received the gift of sight.  Abigail’s left eye had been injured in the accident, and doctors could not guarantee that her eye would be straight again. She also lost hearing in her left ear.
She was worried about her sight, because if she couldn’t see, she wouldn’t be able to drive. Abigail wore her eye glasses after the accident, as she was told she would never be able to wear contacts again. But when she returned to the eye doctor, she discovered she not only regained vision in her left eye, her astigmatism went away. Abigail was able to wear contacts again this summer.
“That was huge,” she said.

Earlier this year, she went back to Graceland and finished 14 credit hours to receive her diploma and earn a B.A. in English.

Then, she approached the Record News about potential opportunities.
“I began working at the Record News and became very fond of it,” Abigail said, “They gave me work to do and helped set me back into motion.”
She spent time researching information to build stories, learned to conduct interviews and took pictures to record Ringgold County Fair events.

“My return back to town was hard,” Abigail admits, “To this day I am still trying to figure out how to answer questions community members ask me. I have no memory of anything.”

Her journey continues on, and the road to recovery will lead her on to new challenges and pursuits as she learns to navigate the world as a young adult.Soon, she will working with Community of Christ Church to write grants for graduating high school students.

“This town has done so much for me that it leaves me without words,” says Abigail, “All I can say is thank you.”