Miracle on the court: Delta C7 standout bounces back from near-fatal wreck

Moving her feet to an upbeat song during a halftime break at the Tri-County Conference basketball tournament, Lindsey Bryant looks like your typical vibrant, athletic high school cheerleader. Which she is -- and that's what is all the more amazing.

Back in July, Bryant, a junior at Delta C7 High School, was critically injured in an automobile accident in Pemiscot County. The fact that she survived the accident is a miracle in itself. That she is also back on the court playing volleyball, cheerleading and playing softball is truly amazing.

"Lindsey persevered through trials that many people would not have attempted to overcome," Delta volleyball coach Stacey Whitfield said. "She fought her way back from a time when they feared she would never be the same to a hard working, capable athlete again. She did all of this with a spirit of courage and enthusiasm. I'm sure she was discouraged at times, but all you ever saw was a positive attitude."

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July 12, 2007 was bouncing along like any other summer day for Bryant. She worked, ate lunch with a friend, then went home to get ready to participate in a volleyball tournament at Southland High School in Cardwell.

Bryant was on the road to Cardwell when disaster struck.

"I don't remember getting ready or leaving the house," said Bryant. "But not even half a mile from my house on Woman's Club Road, I hit a ditch. I don't recall this but they told me I got off the edge of the road where there was a pretty steep drop-off. ...

"When I went to get back on the road I overcorrected and went directly to the other side, nose-first, they thought on my front wheels, hit the ditch and the car flipped three to five times. Sometime during that I was ejected from the passenger window of my Escape. Luckily my car rolled the opposite way of my body."

Bryant, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, was taken by ambulance to Hayti before being airlifted to St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She suffered severe head trauma, had a basilar skull fracture, numerous contusions, broken facial bones, a broken rib, a couple of deep lacerations on the back of her legs and bleeding from her ear. The doctors said she would not last the night.

The doctors were wrong.

Bryant credits the power of prayer for her miraculous recovery.

"Although I was still not awake (immediately after the wreck) and aware of what was happening my mother told me that there were about 40 to 50 people of family and friends were at the hospital praying for me," Bryant said. "I guess news travels fast because there were prayer chains from Washington all the way to Florida."

Within hours, Bryant blinked her eye and gave a thumbs-up. The swelling disappeared from her brain and she was moved from intensive care to a private room just two days after the wreck.

"A note on the door said to see a nurse before entering because they were limiting her visitors," said Whitfield. "I asked the nurse to just tell Lindsey and her mom that I had come by. I did not plan to go in. The nurse caught me as I was about to leave and said that Lindsey wanted to see me. This made me so happy because the last time I had seen her she wasn't saying anything."

One week to the day after the near-fatal wreck, Bryant was released from the hospital.

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Even after Bryant came home from the hospital, she had a long road to go to recover. She had paralysis to the left side of her face and a limp in her left leg from contusions to the bone and was not expected to be able to play sports her junior year of high school. But after coming through so much in such a short amount of time, she continued to surprise the doctors.

"Lindsey is a strong girl," said Candace Braswell, a close friend of Byrant's. "Seeing her shortly after she came home from the wreck, she already wanted to do things by herself like walk -- which should have been a difficult task for someone in her condition -- but she pushed herself to do it anyway, and we knew then that she would be just fine.

"Secondly, after Lindsey came home, she kept her spirits up for everything, in hopes to play sports, being happy around family and friends, and even to be starting school with the rest of us. She didn't feel sorry for herself to be going through all that she was, she was the normal girl that we know and love."

When school started, Bryant was back in the classroom. But that wasn't the only place she was.

"When August and the beginning of volleyball practice arrived, guess who was there? Lindsey," said Whitfield. "She could not participate yet, but didn't want to miss out on anything. She sat through the extreme heat of those practices and watched everything that was going on. The only practices she missed were when she had doctor appointments or if she left early for physical therapy."

Bryant was finally cleared to play volleyball in September and finished the season playing for the Delta C7 Lady Chargers and just completed a full season of cheerleading for the Chargers' basketball team. With softball season fast approaching, Bryant will be a big part of helping Delta defend its Tri-County Conference title.

Pretty amazing for someone who isn't even supposed to be here, much less even playing sports.

"I owe a huge thank you to God," said Bryant. "If it weren't for him being right there by my side holding my hand, I wouldn't have made it. -- he does have a plan. I want to thank my family and friends, all the members of Crossroads Worship Center for their prayers and help they gave me and my family. Also, thank you to every other church and every prayer that was put out for me."