By John Dobberstein, Editor
TULSA — After staring down a never-ending litany of painful surgeries and physical and emotional struggles, Brianna Austin was all smiles as family and friends wheeled her out of a hospital room and down the hall toward freedom.
Staff from Saint Francis Children’s Hospital blew bubbles and clapped as they lined the hallway to cheer on the 13-year-old Broken Arrow student, who climbed into her family’s car toward the first normalcy she’d seen in nearly 2 months.
Not long after climbing in she was looking out the window of the car at the outside world with her headphones on. She faces at least 6 more surgeries in the next several weeks and will be dealing with many challenges going forward. But Thursday was all about celebrating.
“I can’t even express how ecstatic I am right now,” her mother Jen Austin-Hughell said in a Facebook post Thursday afternoon. “It’s bittersweet, but we are oh-so-ready to be home.”
The family has started a GoFundMe to help raise money to help with medical expenses, future surgeries, rehabilitation and other needs. They are also offering fundraiser T-shirts for those who would like another way to support Brianna.
The Broken Arrow middle school student’s life changed forever on Dec. 28 when she was on a seemingly normal trip in the car with her father on Main Street in Broken Arrow. Her father suddenly suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness.
His foot was still on the gas pedal, which caused the vehicle to veer into oncoming traffic. The car struck a raised manhole cover, went airborne and crashed into an oak tree traveling at 46 mph.
Brianna was in the back passenger seat and wearing her seatbelt but still sustained catastrophic injuries. When EMS arrived, Brianna was unconscious and was rushed to St. Francis Medical Center. Shortly after arrival, she went into cardiac arrest and coded.
After unsuccessful CPR, doctors had to perform an emergency thoracotomy and manually pump her heart to restore blood flow to her organs. Brianna was without a pulse for 11 minutes before they brought her back, her family says.
But that was only the beginning of the fight. Brianna suffered severe internal injuries, including a lacerated liver, damaged spleen near her kidneys and massive internal bleeding. Doctors performed emergency surgery, removing her sigmoid colon, colon and a large portion of her intestines. Other organs were temporarily clamped to stop the bleeding.
She also suffered a broken back, broken femur, broken tibia and multiple torn ligaments. Complications from IV and IO lines caused medication to infiltrate her tissues, damaging arteries in her left arm.
Brianna would undergo 3 more emergency surgeries just to control internal hemorrhaging, and she was placed in a medically induced coma to give her body the best chance to stabilize.
In less than a month, she would endure 19 surgeries, many setbacks and severe pain that doctors did their best to control. She began taking steps in a walker on Jan. 22, even going outside to touch the grass and ground herself. They were soon out of the ICU and into a regular hospital room.
Just after the 1-month anniversary of the accident, she endured skin-graft surgeries for her left arm and leg and pushed through several more days of pain.
About a week later, the family found something to celebrate. Last month, Ethan Huss and his wife Rynn were celebrating their anniversary when they heard the accident happen across the street.
They ran to the scene, pulled Brianna from the car and made sure EMS got there in short order. Brianna vaguely remembered being helped by a man who looked like the Harry Potter character Ron Weasley.
The mystery was solved when Ethan and Rynn visited at Brianna at the hospital. They brought her a Ron Weasley wand and a ring that reads, “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.”
“These two are the real deal — humble, kind, and exactly the kind of people you hope show up on the worst day of your life,” Jen said in a Facebook post. “We are beyond thankful that God put these angels directly in our path. Forever thankful for our guardian angels.”
Jen said she is eternally grateful to all the family, friends, healthcare workers and many others who supported the family during this challenge. She said Brianna left her in awe nearly every day.
“There were moments we didn’t know if Brianna was going to make it. Moments where the fear was so heavy it took my breath away. And yet every single time she fought her way back and showed us just how strong, stubborn, and incredible she truly is,” Jen wrote on Facebook. “She is the definition of a warrior.”
JANET L KONECNY says
God defiantly has much bigger plans for Brianna! On December 28, 2025 I was not sure this young lady would pull through all the injures she suffered but she came back from each surgery stronger and stronger. Continued prayers of healing for my great niece and her family.