Ketron, Trauma Care Patient

Ketron doesn’t even remember how many of his bones were broken.

After his usual weekly fishing trip, 85-year-old Ketron headed home to Erwin, Tennessee when a drunk driver hit him head-on. His Jeep flipped, leaving him trapped with broken arms, legs and a fractured pelvis, along with other injuries.

“I hung upside down for 40 minutes until help came,” recalls Ketron.

Rescue services cut Ketron from his Jeep and rushed him to Johnson City Medical Center, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center. He was met by a trauma team who prepped him for the first of several surgeries he would have with Dr. Chad Martin, an orthopedic surgeon, over the next few months.

“Without the trauma team, I probably wouldn’t even be here.”

Just before surgery, Ketron begged Dr. Martin, “Now, I want you to fix me up where I can go back fishing.” He couldn’t imagine never being able to experience again the pastime he’s enjoyed for the last 70 years.

During the next few months of surgeries, hospital stays and in-patient rehab, Ketron worked hard to learn to walk again.

“The trauma team did a good job of getting me back to normal,” he says. “Now I can mow my grass and go back to fishing again. I just want to thank them all for all they did. Without the trauma team, I probably wouldn’t even be here.”