On Sunday afternoon, May 25, 1997, Anna Grace Welborn was a normal, feisty 18-year-old senior at Travelers Rest High School. She was to graduate the following Thursday and had plans to attend Greenville Tech in the fall and from there go to Clemson University and study architecture. She had a good paying job at Carson's, where she had worked for two years and a steady boyfriend. In other words, she had the world by the tail.
On this particular Sunday, Anna had worked until around 3:00, came home and got ready for her Sunday date with her boyfriend. Typical Sunday.
Not so. On her way to meet her boyfriend, traveling in her graduation car on Hwy. 253 in front of Mountain View Elementary School, and across the street from the cemetery where her stepfather was buried just 7 months earlier, she made a critical left-hand turn in front of a van.
The car was demolished beyond recognition. Anna was cut out of the car and rushed to the emergency room of Greenville Memorial Hospital. She has been in a coma since that day. She was in ICU for 2 weeks and is now on the neurological wing of the hospital. There have been many rumors about her condition but the fact is she had a brainstem injury and the only part of the brain that is functioning is the part that controls the heartbeat and breathing. She simply lays in bed with her eyes open or closed and has some involuntary leg and arm movement.
However, Anna did graduate. Some of the wonderful staff at Travelers Rest High School came to ICU and had a special graduation ceremony for Anna. There was not a dry eye in the place. It was so touching that the school would go out of it's way to assure that not only did Anna graduate, she was the first student in the 1997 class of Travelers Rest High School to receive her diploma. She graduated with a "B" average.
Many of her classmates and customers want to know what they can do to help. The kind people at the Sunshine House in Travelers Rest (where Anna's older sister, Rebecca, works) opened a "Pray for Anna" account at First Union in Travelers Rest. Anna had no medical insurance and her widowed mother is currently unable to work because she stays with Anna 24 hours a day. The doctors do not expect any change in Anna's condition.
So who is Anna? She is now the sweetheart of all the nurses, patients and staff of second floor C wing at Greenville Memorial Hospital. What is her future? That is in God's hands.
September 3, 1997
"Pray for Anna. It's Working." This is what the sign says at Carson's Restaurant in Travelers Rest. Anna Welborn, was critically injured in a car accident on May 25, 1997, at the age of 18. She lay in a coma and the doctors gave her no hope of being anything more than a vegetable. Her life was being sustained by a feeding tube inserted in her stomach.
When the accident happened, Kathie Lindsey, Anna's mother, asked her friends, family and hospital staff to start a prayer chain. The response was overwhelming. Prayer chains were started from every denomination and Kathie has heard from missionaries in Italy, China, and South America. Kathie put up a "Prayer Wall" in Anna's room with her favorite prayers on it.
Kathie has stayed at the hospital 24 hours a day waiting, watching, and praying while prayers went out world-wide.
Locally, at least 3 pastors come by each day to pray and the Chaplain or a member of his staff at Greenville Memorial comes by each day.
People who ate at Carson's (some knew Anna, some did not) called Kathie to say they were praying.
Meanwhile, for nearly 3 months, Anna lay in bed being artificially fed. She moved her left arm and leg continuously, but there was no purpose or voluntary motion at all. The movements were like seizures. During this time Anna developed pneumonia (twice) and fought it off without antibiotics. On another occasion, she threw up for 24 hours. It looked as though she would choke to death or aspirate it into her lungs. On another occasion, her heart rate went up to 180 beats per minute and it looked as if she would die of congestive heart failure. On still another occasion, a few hours before Father's Day, she started struggling for breath. The nurses made Kathie leave the room while they tried to save Anna's life. They succeeded. Anna had a "mucus plug" blocking her airway. As one nurse put it, "The Death Angel has visited Anna's room at least 3 times (after ICU) but hasn't taken her Home yet. There is a reason. She has work left to do."
Anna had become the hospital staff's "sweetheart" and they refused to give up. Anna's Mom prayed along with people all over the world.
What most people don't realize is that Mom had a terrible decision to make as the days crawled by. The South Carolina "Right to Die With Dignity" law states that if a person lies in a "persistent vegetative state" and is being artificially fed by a feeding tube, that person has the right to have the feeding tube removed after 90 days and be allowed to pass away with dignity. Since Anna is only 18, she never did a "Living Will" stating her choice in the matter, but she had verbalized to her friends and family that she would not like to live under those conditions. But no mother should have to make the decision to not feed her child. But this was the decision Kathie was faced with. On "Day 73" she had made the decision to have the feeding tube removed after 90 days if there was no change, but she continued to ask God not to make her follow through on this decision. The clock kept ticking with no change. Then, when things looked blackest, God stepped in to make Anna a "Miracle Child of God".
On day 74, Anna clutched her sheet and flung it off of her with her left hand. Thinking this was involuntary, her Mom covered her back up. Anna once again removed the sheet.
On day 75, Anna picked up a stuffed animal and dropped it off the bed.
On day 76, Anna slept.
On day 77, feisty Miss Anna decided to remove her feeding tube. Since she felt no pain, pulling on it was no big deal to Anna (although it was sewn into her stomach). She was stopped from grabbing it and her sleep shirt was pulled down to cover it up. Anna grabbed it through her shirt. So Mom put a pillow on it. Anna ran her hand under the pillow to reach it. Mom put her arm on top of the pillow. Anna pushed Mom's arm out of the way, pushed the pillow off of her, and went for the tube! Mom suddenly realized some thinking had to be going on for Anna to figure out and remember how to get to that tube. The hospital staff had to restrain Anna's hand that one night to keep her from hurting herself.
Later that night, one of the nurses on the floor, Heidi, came in to see Anna. Heidi is 19 and has said all along that Anna was going to get out of that hospital, and go to the movies. While Heidi was sitting on the bed talking to Anna, Anna ran her arm up Heidi's arm and gave her a hug! Everyone in the room was laughing and crying at the same time. Then she tried to pull off Heidi's "Bugs Bunny" smock! These two "soul-mates" both love "Pooh", "Bugs Bunny" and most all the cartoon characters.
Still day 77, Mom hit her knees at bedtime next to Anna's bed, and said, "Lord, I don't know what you have in store for Anna or the reason behind all this. But if You intend for my baby to live, she will need to be able to eat."
Day 78, the doctor came in and was absolutely amazed at the change in Anna. He said Anna was indeed a miracle and she was in God's hands. He ordered a pureed diet for lunch that day and Anna was able to eat!
At the time of this writing, the feeding tube is still in, but Anna has not needed it. She is eating baby food and pureed food and drinking liquids through a straw. She is feeding herself. She is turning her head to both sides (it was slanted to the right), she will hand things to Mom if you ask her to and she will hug you. She is getting occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and recreational therapy. The feisty, sassy, lovable Anna is still in that body and trying to communicate. She has become so active with slinging her leg out of the bed, the hospital has put her in a "romper room" bed to keep her from hurting herself. She is one busy young lady trying to come back alive!
It is now Day 100, and she has been at Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital for almost 2 weeks. Talk about a miracle!!
I believe in the power of prayer and this is what has brought Kathie and Anna this far along. My favorite phrase is "We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we do know Who holds tomorrow". This is also one of the sayings on Mom's "Prayer Wall". Prayer DOES work.
September 30, 1997
The last article written about Anna Welborn was around the first of September and at that time, Anna was at Roger C. Peace and was able to eat pureed food. She was unable to talk and would become agitated when she wanted something and no one could understand what it was. The first order of business was to set up some kind of communication system with Anna because no one knew what she understood and what she did not understand.
The first two weeks at Roger C. Peace were frustrating for everyone involved. Anna was very inconsistent with her responses to the therapists which made everyone wonder if she were severely retarded, which was a possibility considering the severity of her accident, and the fact that she had been in a coma for so long. They tried blinking eyes, 1 blink for 'yes', 2 for 'no'. Didn't work. They tried thumbs up or down, for yes or no. Didn't work. They tried shaking or nodding the head for yes or no. Didn't work. The therapists and Kathie, Anna's mom, worked with 'yes' and 'no' cards. Didn't work. Could she see the cards? Was she able to read? With no communication, how could you tell?
The therapists and Mom persevered. Besides taking care of her basic needs such as food and cleanliness, Mom told Anna if she wanted anything extra such as ice cream, juice or milk, she would have to answer with a 'yes' or 'no' in some way. Mom started with the 'yes' and 'no' cards. This was a hard line for Mom to draw since Anna had come so far. But it was the only way to find out what Anna did and did not understand.
At first, Anna ignored the cards. Mon ignored the treats. Battle lines were drawn. Mom would ask every hour or so, "Do you want juice? You'll have to tell me. Yes or No", holding up the cards. Finally, Anna grabbed the "YES" card and through it on the floor. Mom tried the same thing again, but changed the position of the cards. Again, Anna threw the "YES" card on the floor. Mom ran down the hall to get a nurse and, of course, some juice. From that moment on, Anna consistently used the "Yes, No" cards. She did quit throwing them, though, and started to just touch them.
The incident with the cards had happened over the weekend. Monday morning the therapists were ecstatic. This was not the same non-communicative teen they had left on Friday! That Monday, Anna played UNO with one of the therapist and won! It was discovered by another therapist that she could actually read. As one therapist said that Monday, "God Is So Big"!
But God was not through with Miss Anna, yet. The very next weekend, Anna had a lot of company. Everyone was talking to her throughout the day, but obviously they were not asking her the right questions. So she reached up and pulled one of her friends down close to her and whispered, "juice". That was Anna's first word in almost 5 months! What a joyous day!
March 20, 1999
The physical challenges Anna has overcome are remarkable in themselves, but what is even more remarkable is Anna, herself. She has "woke up" with a sweetness and purity about her that only God could have put there. Since she almost died 3 times, it is as though she knows and understands things the rest of us can only guess about. She has an innocent, trusting, childlike demeanor about her that is always joyous. One look at that happy, glowing face, will let anybody know that "God Is", indeed, "still in the Miracle business".
Anna was finally discharged from the hospital in late October, 1997. She was in outpatient therapy until November of 1998. Anna is going to an adult day care center and is getting help through the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. She is not, nor ever will be, the same child her Mother gave birth to, but she is a miracle. And her mother is more than willing to get to know this new Anna, and love even more than before.
Once anyone has a Severe Traumatic Brain Injury, they are never the same as before. We may not understand, but we do know that God can make something beautiful and wonderful, out of any situation.
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