Help Keenan's Miracle Recovery Journey

My sweet younger brother Keenan was unfortunately struck head-on by an impaired driver Friday evening. He was supposed to arrive at his best friend's house and never made it, which prompted a search for him. After checking his Life360 location, we saw his last pinged location. We had an approximate location for him and were hopeful his car broke down and we would stumble upon him trying to fix it. His phone was showing up as dead, which added to the fear of not knowing where he was or if he was okay. Of course, the worst-case scenario was in the back of our minds, but we were hoping this was Keenan being Keenan, not charging his phone and trying to fix his broken-down car as Mr. Independent. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Quinn and Anna (his best friend and second family members) stumbled upon the accident coming northbound, and my dad stumbled upon the accident coming southbound (at approximately the same time). It was there that they found out Keenan was being airlifted to Baltimore Shock and Trauma as a code blue. My dad was told to prepare himself for Keenan not to make it as he was talking to the first responders on the scene.

We all began to head to the hospital. We all arrived between the hours of 11:00 pm and 1:00 am (as Baltimore is a decent drive from our home in Bear, DE). We then had to just wait and constantly cry out to the Lord to save our precious boy. All we knew was that he was in surgery to repair his aorta, and it was going well, but it would be hours before we heard the next update. We were aware of a few of his other large issues (left arm is pretty much destroyed and wasn’t getting a pulse, and his left femur was broken); however, that wasn’t a concern when his heart was on the line.

Saturday morning around 4:00, we heard that his heart was repaired by a miracle surgery that was minimally invasive. This is a surgery that they are only able to do at Baltimore Shock and Trauma and that he wouldn’t have received if he went to Christiana Hospital—Praise the Lord. They put a stent in his aorta and discovered that because of the crash, there was no tissue left protecting his heart. The surgeon was so pleased at how the surgery went and said he shouldn’t have any other heart complications. He will need an annual scan for the rest of his life but shouldn’t need any other heart procedures.

They then were going to let him rest for a bit before they began all of his orthopedic surgeries. They want to place a titanium rod in his femur and many screws, pins, and plates in his arm and elbow. That didn’t end up happening yet, and instead, they cleaned all his wounds and put exterior stabilizers and rods outside his body connecting to the inside of his body. As well as repairing his spleen which was damaged in the crash.

He was transferred to the ICU Saturday morning around 11:30, and mom and dad were able to see him around 1:00. He was sedated and on a breathing machine and didn’t have much color—but he looked like himself, which is good.

Later that night, I was able to visit him for 5 minutes, and he had his normal coloring back.

Saturday night, mom stayed over with him—they did some more scans because they were concerned with some things, but they confirmed he is okay in those areas. Sunday morning (as I’m typing this), he is in surgery to try and repair the veins and circulation in his arm because they’re concerned about his future function. However, on a positive note, they turned off his breathing tube, and he is breathing on his own (with the tube still inside just in case).

Our family wants to thank the witness who we can only assume called the police to report the accident. We want to thank the dozens of first responders from the Maryland State Police and Delaware State Police and maybe local police who responded so quickly. A huge thank you goes out to all the first responders for working so quickly to get him removed from the vehicle and into the helicopter. And thank you, thank you, thank you to his surgeons, nurses, ICU team, and all other medical support team members who have helped him on his journey so far.

Please keep praying.

Updated 4/20 at 11:00 AM.

Monday 4/21 11:30 AM update:

First of all, I just want to say how overwhelmed and blown away we are from the outreach of support from the community. We are so extremely blessed to have so much support from you all. We are so grateful for everyone’s donations, prayers, and messages of support for us during this trying time. Thank you all!

I wanted to give an update (I think I will be updating every morning before noon from now on).

Yesterday around 11:45 Keenan’s circulation surgery finished. The doctors said it went well and they were able to also put a stabilizing plate in for his arm.

Mom, myself and his brother Cole were able to see him and talk to him for a bit before my dad took over for the rest of the day. He had pretty good coloring and was on the ventilator again. They said they would take him off later for another breathing trial.

Around 3:00 he got his ventilator removed and was breathing on his own. They removed all sedatives and just had him on painkillers to try to have him begin to wake up. The doctors asked him if he knew his name and he was able to whisper it to them. Sometimes when my dad was talking to him he would furrow his brow. Besides that he was just sleeping. The nurses think he might have a concussion so he might not respond as normal.

4:00 Sunday I got the update that he is minimally responsive and resting. Occasionally biting his bottom lip and moving his legs up and down.

7:00 update was that he is exhausted and trying to heal. Every hour he has some energy and moves a little and attempts to rip out his nose tubes. He likes to keep his right leg up and not keep it straight. Then he settles back down to rest. No real talking or eyes opening but more activity each hour.

My Monday morning update was as follows: He was uncomfortable and was moving around and slid down in his bed. His oxygen was dipping a little. So x ray, pounding his chest and adding a hi flow oxygen and moving him up in bed fixed everything.

The team seems happy with blood flow and limb health and now transferring focus to preventing infections and giving him best possible settings to rest and heal.

They discovered that he does have pneumonia in his lungs. Developed yesterday and confirmed in ct scan. He is not as responsive as the doctors would like. So they are coming up with a plan.

This concludes my Monday morning update. Please keep praying for Keenan and that he finds comfort and healing. Please pray that he is able to find his words soon so we can talk to our sweet boy. We appreciate everyone reaching out and are just so grateful to his hospital staff for taking such good care of him.

Tuesday Morning update:

Keenan is still off the ventilator and still trying to fight off the pneumonia. The original goal was to have his surgery for his orthopedics this morning but they are now trying to do it tomorrow. The ultimate goal is to keep him off the ventilator. Yesterday he rested and healed a lot. He has periods of consciousness that are increasing as time passes. He finally spoke clearly yesterday and told mom he loved her. It was such a huge moment! He has fevers on and off and they discovered a crack in his ribs that is not making the pneumonia any more bearable. However we just keep praying to healing and comfort!! Thank you all so much for your prayers and donations and for reaching out to help our family. We are so thankful and overwhelmed.

Wednesday Morning update:

Yesterday was HUGE! He opened his eyes and was talking to us. THANK YOU LORD! He’s was in a lot of pain but was able to talk to us and even joke around with us a bit. Despite all the energy it takes him to talk, he’s using all his manners with his hospital staff and it is just so precious to watch.

He is on a nose tube finally which means his oxygen has been improving!

This morning he finally went in for his orthopedic surgeries (placing a rod in his femur and fixing his arm to the best of their ability). We are hoping this will help with his pain once his bones are back in place. He is still in surgery as I type this at 11:22 AM. We are so grateful to everyone for supporting Keenan and our family as we navigate this journey. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING! We just want him healthy and home.

I apologize for not responding to all the messages yet. I am working on it today. Please know how much every single message means to us. We are so overwhelmed with love. God Bless all of you!

Thursday Morning Update:

Keenan got out of surgery around 2:00 yesterday. They repaired his femur and arm. The surgeons decided to leave the external stabilizer bracket on his arm to stabilize the elbow and allow it to heal. They were able to complete without a skin graft but had to get rid of a lot of damaged and infected tissue.

His left arm is a concern at this point because he has very little feeling and very little ability to move his fingers. We are continuing to pray for full restoration of function! He is still being monitored for the pneumonia and we are continuing to pray for the infection to heal.

Our update from this morning was as follows; his vision is as expected. He has double vision but that is expected since he has a fractured eye socket. He is having slurring of speech but they will have that consulted today. However I am hoping it is due to all the medications he is on and because of how exhausted he is from trying to heal. Goal for today is to get his feeding tube out so they can test his swallowing and hopefully allow him to eat! If you know Keenan, you know he loves a good meal. Please keep praying! Thank you so much for all your continued support. It is so comforting to know that we have such a huge support system for our boy.

Friday update:

Keenan didn’t end up getting his feeding tube out yesterday but got plenty of rest and quality time with his family. He was able to sit up in a chair for the first time which was exciting! They also informed us that as soon as he is ready he can start putting weight on his leg! He has been doing pretty well during the days but nights are rough, the pain sets in and dreams and visions take over. However when he is awake during the day he is cracking jokes and quoting movies.

We are hoping that later today he will get the feeding tube out because he passed the swallow test this morning! -YAY!

His slurring is also improving which is good too.

He is one tough cookie and we are so proud of him for working so hard to heal himself!

Please continue to pray for healing and thank you all for your continued support!

Saturday Morning Update:

Keenan has made HUGE strides! His slurring pretty much went away over night! He is able to stay awake for a decent period of time and have conversations. He’s hilarious as always. He got his feeding tube out and ate and drank plenty of food! He even got great sleep last night. Today they are hoping to move him from the ICU into another area of the hospital so he can continue orthopedics! Praise God! Please keep praying we can get him home soon. Thank you all for your continued support!!

Monday 4/28 update:

Hello everyone! Sorry that I dropped the ball with the updates yesterday! Keenan has been making huge strides to getting back on his feet again! Yesterday they moved him to a lower needs version of the ICU which was exciting (picture of him below).

We are hoping today he will be moved completely out of the ICU.

He is getting a bit more sensation in his hand every day which is good, however still no movement and real feeling- mostly just tingling.

This morning therapists came in and had him stand up for the first time in 10 days! He needs a lot of strength and stability but he will work on it. Left hand and arm are still a big concern for future function but he is making progress! Please continue to pray for healing and comfort! Thank you so much for supporting Keenan and our family. God Bless all of you!

Update! 05/02/25 (12:30 AM)

I want to apologize for not updating for so long. So many things have been up in the air and I didn’t want to update prematurely. Keenan is going to be transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation facility in Dover this afternoon! The ICU is happy with his progress. The insurance paperwork was started and sent in Wednesday morning and it is a long process to get approved but it finally all went through yesterday afternoon. He has more energy, more awareness, he is sitting up and standing more comfortably. He was also able to take some small steps with support with his crutches. They removed his x-brace on his left arm and he was able to have movement in his wrist and elbow. We are still waiting on his left hand to have more sensation and movement.

Keenan is working super hard on his rehab because he has exciting things he wants to be able to do, such as stop by his only sisters wedding tomorrow, and his internship in Illinois coming up in June. Please pray for continued healing, comfort, and peace. We are so grateful for all of you!

May 15th, 2025 update:

I first want to apologize for the lack of updates. Life has been so busy, I got married right after Keenan was placed in rehab, and his progress has been moving so quickly that I was waiting for a good point to give an update. Thank you for your patience with me!

I will pick up where I left off…

After Keenan moved into his rehab place we were informed that he would not be able to make it to my wedding which was heartbreaking for everyone. However understandable considering his condition, and insurance hold ups and rules of the facility. However, I was able to add visiting him into my timeline! At 3:00 on Saturday May 3rd the family went over all dressed up with the photographers to get some pictures and do a first look with Keenan. I praise God that he placed Keenan at the facility that was only 15 minutes away from my venue and not an hour and a half. I will attach a photo shortly!

His brothers Cole and Caden then took turns FaceTiming him so he didn’t miss out on everything.

Although I would have loved for him to be there (and he would have loved to be there) we are so thankful that we got to have the precious moments we had. Also, since everyone was in town for the wedding, he was able to get so many visitors which was so nice for him!

He started PT and OT on the day of the wedding and his efforts were high to build back the skills that he needs to get home. His left arm and hand were still the biggest concern at this point.

Almost immediately after arriving at the facility they had him walking stairs and riding bikes to get his leg back in shape- it was amazing to witness.

Keenan is one of the hardest workers I know, and he sure has been working hard to get back on his feet and back at home. He worked so hard that they told him he would most likely be able to leave on May 14th, his 21st birthday. He just had to keep up the progress and hard work.

Well we are happy to report that after multiple hours of PT and OT daily, he returned home yesterday for his birthday. It is just such a miracle.

Yesterday morning he also discovered for the FIRST TIME since the accident almost a month ago (April 18th) that he was able to wiggle his fingers. What a fantastic birthday gift!

Today he started outpatient work which might be even harder than impatient work (considering someone needs to transport him to and from and he won’t be getting as much rest) but he is ready for the challenge. He has a brand new cane and some sneakers to begin to heal from this chapter so he can get to his internship in a few weeks! We are praying the Lord allows him to continue to heal rapidly so he can attend however we know that the Lords plan is always the best plan regardless if it’s what we think it should be or not.

Our family is just so thankful for the support of the community, friends, and family. Your donations have taken such a burden off of my parents during this trying time. Your cards, flowers, and visits have helped Keenan to keep moving forward and brought joy to him during the most painful and frustrating time of his life. We are just so absolutely thankful for each and every one of you. Soon we will be sending individual thank you’s out as soon as we get adjusted to this new chapter of helping Keenan regain his independence at home. We love you all and thank God every day that we have our Keenan.