Teen makes amazing recovery after being hit by a truck as a child
Published: May 23, 2007
Seven years after her son was violently struck by a truck and badly injured, Janet Hobbs still finds it difficult to talk about the incident.
The voice of the 39-year-old rural Bloomfield resident trembles as she recalls how her son, Steffan, then 6 years old, was hit by a pickup truck on May 12, 2000, after venturing out onto U.S. 64 on his bicycle.
The accident was a bad one. The force of the impact snapped his legs in half and caused serious brain trauma.
“His brain was coming out at the seams. His legs were wrapped around his head,” said his mother, who saw Steffan moments after the accident. “He was not expected to survive.”
Shortly after Steffan’s accident, the young boy was taken from San Juan Regional Medical Center to University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital in Albuquerque. At the hospital, Janet Hobbs and her husband, Jimmy Hobbs, received even worse news.
Doctors thought it was likely Steffan had damage to his internal organs. They opened his stomach and found that his internal organs were swelling.
In addition to the organs, his brain was swelling and a large portion of Steffan’s brain and skull eventually had to be removed. Janet Hobbs estimates that only 80 percent of his brain remains.
Steffan was hit on a Friday. The following Sunday was Mother’s Day and, instead of spending it eating chocolates and getting hugs, Janet was at the hospital being told that her son’s health was failing.
The next morning, doctors had to operate to remove his skull from the nose up to relieve pressure on his brain.
Before being taken to the operating room, both parents said goodbye to their son after he was baptized and given his last rites. The doctors had said the outlook was not good that he would survive the surgery.
When he came out of surgery, he was still on life support, and for five days it was one scary moment after another for his family.
But by day nine, his vital signs showed improvement. His breathing tube was removed and brain activity finally was detected.
“From that point on, it was all up hill,” Janet Hobbs said.
When Steffan finally awoke in early June, he smiled. Though he could not talk, he giggled and his face lit up regularly. As encouraging as this was to his parents, the news from the doctors tempered the family’s elation.
“Doctors told us, Your son is probably not going to walk or talk again. His speech center was affected,’” Janet Hobbs said.
After spending three weeks at the UNM Children’s Hospital, Steffan was transferred to the UNM Carrie Tingley Children’s Hospital for rehabilitation. He spent about two months receiving treatment before being sent home.
Finally, nine months after the accident, Steffan began walking again. Fifteen months after that, he began talking in a more coherent fashion.
“Talking took him about two years. He would make sounds and say words (before that), but none of it made any sense,” his mother said.
How Steffan began talking again and showing other strides of progress is something of a miracle, his mother said. What could have killed him seems to have breathed new life into him.
In many cases of severe brain trauma, patients become epileptic. Doctors told Steffan’s parents that if their son managed to go two years without having a seizure, it was likely he would avoid epilepsy.
At the two-year mark, his family held a celebration to honor his success. They thought he was in the clear.
Two days later, May 14, 2002, Steffan had a 22-minute seizure. He was convulsing and his eyes rolledback into his head. His skin turned blue and his parents feared for the worst.
“We thought this is it. This is the end,” his mother said.
But instead of resulting in Steffan’s death, the seizure somehow had the opposite effect.
“At that point, it sounds weird but is common, it rebooted his brain,” Janet Hobbs said.
Two weeks ago was the seventh anniversary of the crash and his parents remain awestruck at the progress he has made. After surviving four head surgeries, reconstructive surgery on his face and eye socket, and speech and movement rehabilitation, the 13-year-old now rides horses, bicycles and participates in the Special Olympics.
At the Special Olympics competition in Albuquerque, Steffan did exceptionally well, taking gold in the shot put and silver in the 100-meter relay.
This and other elements of his story has so impressed administration at the Children’s Hospital that the Miracle Children’s Network has nominated Steffan as a possibility for its New Mexico representative.
Every year, a child is chosen from every state to represent the 17 million children treated by Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. The Children’s Miracle Network is an organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals nationwide.
Daniel Jaecks, UNM Children’s Hospital Children’s Miracle Network development specialist, said Steffan’s remarkable story of survival and recovery makes him the perfect ambassador for the hospital. If Steffan becomes the New Mexico Miracle Child, he will attend speaking engagements and relate his story. Jaecks said he will help raise money for the hospital by being its poster child.
It is all but certain that Steffan will be selected in August to represent New Mexico as the state’s miracle child. The UNM Children’s Hospital is the only children’s hospital to meet the network’s criterion and so his selection is probable.
To Janet Hobbs, the Miracle Network’s interest in her son is remarkable.
“I think it is absolutely the most beautiful thing, considering what this boy has been through,” she said.
“I think he represents what Children’s Hospital is about. He’s a documented medical miracle,” she later added. “We’re from northern California so when this happened, we were terrified, Oh my God, this is happening in New Mexico. He needs to be at UC Davis or Pepperdine or one of these bigger medical universities.’ Now, I just thank God they did such an excellent job with him.”
Steffan is proof that some stories have happy endings, Jaecks said.
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