Home About Find a Physician Healthcare Services For Patients & Visitors Careers Site Index Contact Us
Home News Spotlight Buddy Wells

Buddy Wells

Georgia boy back on pitcher's mound after ATV accident

On May 31, Buddy Wells, 12, threw the opening pitch for the Jacksonville Suns. Shortly before that, he met his favorite Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones.

Last December, he was fighting for his life at Shands Jacksonville.

After eating dinner on Christmas Eve, Buddy and some of his friends went out to ride their four-wheelers, when something terrible happened.

Buddy had been thrown from his four-wheeler and was airlifted by TraumaOne from Folkston, Ga., to Shands Jacksonville, where he was listed in critical condition. When Darrell and Pollie arrived at the trauma center, they learned their son suffered an injury to the left side of his brain and sustained four chipped vertebrae in his neck, a broken collarbone, broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Darlene Lobel, M.D., a University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville assistant professor of neurosurgery, was on call that night.

"When he arrived in the ER, he was in a coma from a severe head injury and required surgery to monitor and treat the high pressure in his brain," said Lobel. "Normally, brain swelling subsides after a few days, but for Buddy, this process took several weeks."

Buddy's mother spent countless hours at her son's side in the pediatric intensive care unit. She said spending this time at the hospital was made easier by the team of physicians, nurses and therapists who cared for her son.

"On Christmas morning, we stepped off the elevators and Rachel O'Neill, the nurse manager for the pediatric intensive care unit, was there to meet us in the hallway," she said. "She looked at us with such compassion, put her arms around me and led us to our son. The look in her eyes let me know that Buddy was going to get the best care possible."

O'Neill said coming in on her day off to comfort and support the Wells was the best gift she could give, and the least she could do.

"I knew the minor inconvenience for me to come in on a holiday was nothing compared to the nightmare that had just struck this family," she said.

A state of uncertainty

Within a two-week span, Buddy's brain injury began to improve, but his injured lung started to fail as he developed pneumonia.

To remove the fluid, surgeons inserted a tube into his chest to re-expand his lung. Buddy had to be rotated to prevent fluid from collecting in his chest. However, every time he was moved, his brain pressure would rise.

Trauma surgeons informed the Wells that Buddy would need to remain in a coma to maintain control of his brain pressure. However, the longer he stayed in a coma, the more problems he would face coming out; problems such as infection and heart and lung failure as a direct result of his organs depending on the ventilator to breathe.

Eventually, Buddy's brain pressure decreased, and he was slowly brought out of the coma on Jan. 4. The next day, Buddy opened his eyes, but he was not able to communicate with anyone and he had lost about 20 pounds.

"When Buddy was taken off the ventilator on Jan. 9, he was like a newborn baby and had to learn to do everything all over again," said his mother.

The road to recovery

Joseph Tepas III, M.D., a UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville professor of surgery and division chief of pediatric surgery, said the comprehensive care Buddy received ultimately saved his life.

"The type of brain injury Buddy suffered requires long-term therapeutic treatment and monitoring," said Tepas. "Brain injuries represent the most serious and life-threatening trauma we see at Shands Jacksonville."

A little more than three weeks after the accident, Buddy was transferred from Shands Jacksonville to Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital, where he spent an additional six weeks going through intensive physical therapy. Eventually, his feeding tube was removed and he was talking, sitting up and standing with assistance. By the end of February two months after the accident he went home.

"Buddy is currently receiving speech therapy through the school system's homebound program, which is designed to assist hospitalized students with receiving and completing school work from home," Pollie Wells said. "He still has some language and cognitive issues, such as becoming confused when given too much information or being around too much commotion. Physically, he has improved and is running three days a week and lifting weights with his father."

Just a typical kid again

Lobel said that when Buddy came to her office for his first postoperative clinic visit in late February, he seemed just like a normal 12-year-old boy. He asked her when he could return to the baseball field.

"Hearing that question, knowing all that he had survived and how far he had come, it brought tears to my eyes," said Lobel. "There is nothing more rewarding as a doctor than to see a patient recover so miraculously from such a devastating injury."

And although Buddy isn't 100 percent, he will be doing what most kids his age are doing this summer: hunting, fishing and playing sports.

"He will be tubing and swimming in the river, going to the beach and attending baseball camp at the University of North Florida," said his mother.

Life threw Buddy a curve last December that threatened to take him out of the game. Thanks to his physicians, nurses, parents and sheer determination on his part, he's back on deck, preparing to step up to the plate.

[top of page]