‘My survivor puppy’: Crash survivor creates special bond between dog and doctor
By Bill Schammert
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OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Every day, Nebraska trauma surgeons are called into action to help save a life or a person’s way of life.
Such was the case in November 2022 for Elizabeth Nelson.
“I was leaning forward and changing the song when he hit us,” Nelson said. “I was in the back middle seat, so I had the fantastic seat belt that went over my waist and not my chest.”
Nelson was doing everything right that night. She went out with a group of friends and had a designated driver taking them home.
But she was hit by a drunk driver. Crash images show hardly anything left of the trunk.
“I don’t remember the ambulance ride,” she said. “I remember waking up in the ER and being told I was being admitted.”
She was one of the roughly 600 Nebraskans injured every year in drunk driving crashes, according to recent data from the Nebraska State Patrol and Department of Transportation.
“She had a very unstable injury,” said Nebraska Medicine spinal surgeon Dr. Emmett Gannon.
Nelson had a broken neck.
“I’d typically say with her type of injury, there’s over a 50 percent chance of permanent neurologic injury,” Gannon said.
Gannon credits Nelson’s friends who, after the crash, kept her immobile until first responders arrived.
Once in the hospital, Gannon needed to act fast.
“We’re kind of carpenters in some degree or fashion,” he said. “Just screws, rods, and a graft. It’s just making sure you’re doing the right levels to stabilize it and prevent neurologic injury.”
Nelson is not paralyzed.
“Dr. Gannon and his staff helped me walk again,” she said. “They saved my life.”
But beyond surgery and physical therapy, Nelson needed mental health therapy as well.
Through it all, she found a buddy on four legs.
“The PTSD was a real thing,” she said. “Every time I’d get to those episodes, I’d cuddle Cannon, and she would just get me out of it.”
Nelson got Cannon shortly after the crash and his name is no coincidence.
“I said, ‘You know what, I broke my cervical spine,’ and then I said, ‘Dr. Gannon put me back together, so I’m going to name her Cannon’ because she’s my survivor puppy.”
In January, Nelson brought Cannon to meet Gannon.
“Cannon just represents a lot of people who’ve been in her life and on her journey,” he said. “From her friends in the car to her family after the injury, nurses, and therapists. I think I played a small part, but it’s cool to see the impact you have on your patients’ lives. It just reminds you why you got into this in the first place.”
Nelson recently graduated from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She’s looking for a job with a slower pace as she continues to heal both mentally and physically.
But she’s walking into a future with a best friend and a heart of forgiveness.
“I was angry for a long time,” she said. “I was really angry, but I just want him to know I’m not angry anymore. It does nothing to help anybody. I wish him the best.”
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