20-year-old, Bek Caudle Shocks Doctors With Recovery After Traumatic Brain Injury From Car Accident

Bek Caudle makes amazing progress

Bek Caudle was driving home with her boyfriend on New Year’s Day. The roads were icy in the area they were driving near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Because of the conditions, they lost control and crashed on the overpass near M-23 and M-14. The two were trying to walk toward the grass for safety reasons, when another driver lost control and hit Bek.

She was immediately taken the hospital, where her family learned she suffered from a traumatic brain injury, multiple skull, and rib fractures. She also fractured her c-1 vertebrae and also had a punctured lung. Doctors were unsure of what her recovery would look like or how long it would take her to walk again.

Her parents say she was unresponsive and unable to ‘track’ with her eyes, meaning she could not follow objects in motion.

One day, she turned a corner and began ‘waking up’ from her traumatic brain injury.

“Her eyes were open, and she just looked different. And I said, ‘Bek, how about a high 5? It was the first response,” said her father Phil Caudle. “I knew it my soul that she was going to be okay.”

Just 10 days after she arrived at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation hospetal, Bek surprised everyone when she gave her dad a high five and stood up during a physical therapy session. A few days later, Bek said, “Mom.”

With the support of her family, friends and Mary Free Bed team, Bek battled medical complications and issues associated with her brain injury with hard work and courage. After several more weeks of intensive rehabilitation, including physical, occupational, speech and recreational therapies, she graduated and walked out of the hospital to claps and cheers

Throughout all the recovery, Bek has kept a positive attitude instead of becoming bitter.

“That doesn’t get me anywhere. It doesn’t make the car accident not happen. All I can do is push forward and be happy with the progress that I have had,” said Bek. “You have to realize that your future isn’t going to look like your past. They are not going to be the same, so you just need to keep pushing forward. Because your future will hold a lot more than your past did.”

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