‘We’re Not Alone’ – Trauma Survivors Reunite at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center to Celebrate Life, Honor Life Savers

IN 2023, trauma department provided multidisciplinary, round-the-clock care for more than 2,000 trauma patients

For National Trauma Survivors Day, Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center welcomed former patients, and partner First Responders.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – “I’m walking, and I broke like half my body,” said Marquie Cloud, whose motorcycle crash in August left him bleeding out, broken from his wrist to his foot, road burned and concussed.

Cloud was one of more than a dozen former Health First Holmes Regional Medical Center trauma patients who converged on the Harry and Wendy Brandon Atrium at the hospital for a celebration of life and expression of gratitude for medicine and First Responders.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody,” said former patient Dayanna Gigi Ramirez, who was involved in a near-fatal car crash just after Christmas. “To whoever cut me out of the vehicle, to the people who flew me to the hospital, to the surgeons – I’ve had 13 surgeries, but I’m walking today. It’s definitely a miracle.”

For more than a quarter century, Holmes Regional has been Brevard County’s only Level II trauma center, and Health First’s First Flight its only dedicated air ambulance service, which makes about 800 patient flights a year.

In 2023, the trauma department’s eight surgeons, nine advanced practice providers, numerous nurses and rehabilitation and respiratory therapists provided multidisciplinary, round-the-clock care for more than 2,000 trauma patients. One of those surgeons is Tony Dunne, MD, who led the program.

“To see so many people return, it sends a message to us that, you know, people are grateful for what we do,” he said after. “We have this critical role and the skills to take care of these people. It gives us a lot of energy going forward into the future.”

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‘When You Have a Second Chance’

One of several survivors who turned to the assembled firefighters, paramedics and EMTs assembled along the near wall and thanked them was Tyler Farnham. When he was 26, skydiving near Sebastian Municipal Airport, his parachute malfunctioned, and he hit the ground traveling at a speed somewhere between safe and full.

He was flown by First Flight and treated at Holmes Regional. His recovery took months.

“When you have a second chance, you just have a completely different view and perspective and it makes me – I think it makes most people – so ready to attack every single day, make sure they live every day like it’s your last – and be appreciative,” he says.

Farnham is a motivational speaker, and he’s published a couple of books. His accident happened 15 years ago, on April 11, and when that day comes around, he marks it – not with sadness but joy.

“I take time to meditate. I swim, ride my bike, surf, which is my favorite thing on the planet. I call my loved ones. The fact that I can do these things makes me smile.”

The Caregivers

Sitting around the circular tables at the center of the crowd, often immediately alongside survivors, were the caregivers, a group who themselves have a harrowing journey, if not one of miraculous healing.

One was Vanessa Ziade, whose son Brandon Ziade and his friend Dean Hysong both were survivors of terrible motorcycle accidents. Brandon suffered a traumatic brain injury and a bisected carotid artery that produced a stroke, among other injuries, and only recently has begun walking without the aid of a walker.

“One thing that’s hard to reconcile for [the patients] is, they don’t remember half the stuff. We caregivers, we remember every minute,” said Vanessa Ziade.

After it happened, she spent nights at the hospital, many of those on a seat next to Brandon, some on a mattress next to a vending machine in the waiting area. When she took the microphone to address the crowd, she thanked the hospital staff for “putting up with me as a parent, because we’re scared, we’re confused, and it’s literally the worst time of our lives.”

She admitted she was “assertive” at times with the staff, “and it was hard,” but “they put up with us, and I’m so thankful.”

‘Stronger and Better Together’

It was the second annual Health First event to celebrate National Trauma Survivor’s Day, and while it offered a reunion of former patients with surgeons, medical staff and first responders, it was also an opportunity to compare notes among themselves.

“We’re very isolated,” said Vanessa Ziade. “For over a year, we’ve been on our own. It’s nice to see we’re not alone.”

“You know, we have more in common than I thought,” said Marquie Cloud. “If they pushed through it, and I pushed through it, it’s [going to be] OK. Sometimes I get upset because people don’t know what I’ve been through – it feels good to be with people who know.”

For the staff of the Level-II trauma center, several said, what felt best were the smiles, the hugs, the sighs and tears. The signs of life being lived.

“As trauma providers, what drives us and inspires us is the goal of sending patients home to their families,” said Nancy Mettner, System Director for several hospital service lines, including Trauma, Neurohospitalists and Neuroendovascular Surgery.

“Each member of our team is deeply gratified to see you here today,” she told the assembled. “And we will celebrate more survivor stories in the future. At Health First, we know – we’re all stronger and better together.”

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