Kage Morin-Mills on his road to recovery

Brenda Butler, my teammate, paralegal, and good friend’s, son was in a horrific accident on June 27th, 2022 – one day after his 15th birthday. His name is Kage, he is a handsome, smart, and empathetic young man who has spent this summer playing football and dirt bike riding with his friends and his beloved stepfather Kenny Butler. Kage is a unique young man – a week or so before the incident, I was driving him home after he house & puppy sat for us and instead of being glued to his phone watching tik tok videos like any other kid his age, he engaged with me and philosophized regarding the path to a well lived life. We engaged in thoughtful debate about careers he would be good at and finding meaning and purpose in this world. I find him to be incredibly soulful and deep in his observations and I pray that his reflective nature will help him endure, navigate, and hopefully come out the other side of this terrifying event a stronger human being, full of the same thoughtful and patience energy that the world so desperately needs right now.

Monday, June 27th, 2022, Brenda received the call that every parent dreads…. your son has been in an accident, he was hit by a truck. Kage was riding on his dirt bike on the pedestrian path in the Big Lake area, living and enjoying a carefree summer day when a pickup truck made a quick turn in front of him. Kage had no warning and no time to stop. Kage and the truck collided, and Kage flew... and then hit ground several times and kept flying and skidding across the gravel until ultimately landing more than 130 feet from the point of impact according to the Fire Chief.

From the second Brenda received the call (from emergency personnel), immediate panic set in – she had to drive to the scene of an accident, an accident that involved her youngest child, her baby, her life. When she arrived, she saw him… lying there in the gravel, screaming in pain and agony. And then she saw the injuries… the injuries were massive and extensive and visceral. Brenda ran to Kage, she did her best to avert her eyes from the blood, the bones sticking through his skin, and tried to lock eyes with him and hold his face – praying and pleading with God to take Kage’s place. As Brenda tried to provide Kage with some level of comfort, the Emergency Personnel worked quickly, efficiently, and with compassion to prepare Kage to be medivacked to Providence from the Big Lake area.

When the Emergency Personnel were working on Kage, they quickly noticed that his right leg was so damaged that Kage didn’t have a heartbeat in his toes; they had to, right there on the spot, straighten out his mangled leg to get blood flow going to save his foot.

Kage broke and had compound fractures throughout his right leg femur, tibia, fibula, ankle, heel, all his toes, and a majority of the bones in his foot. Additionally, he likely tore and snaped all ligaments and cartilage in his knee, which will require a full knee replacement. He also has a wound vac on the inside of his calf to attempt to re-grow his leg tissue due to the removal of a large portion of flesh that occurred during the accident. The wound vac will be part of his life until there is enough tissue re-growth to sustain skin grafts.

As awful as all the injuries above are, the worst injury is something that will be with him for the rest of his life and will impact him every day. Kage suffered a massive tear (¾), of the right side of his rectum. The muscles and flesh are torn so badly that the surgeons, after cleaning gravel and particles of his clothing from the massive wound, had to perform an emergency colostomy, that may be a permanent fixture for the rest of his life.

Over the past three weeks, with no end in sight, Brenda has spent every single day with her son in the hospital. There is currently no end in sight to the surgeries (he has had 8 so far) he will need, and we do not have a date set for him to return home. Keeping him free from infections is critical and once the doctors determine his risk of infection is lessened, he may be placed in an inpatient facility for intensive re-habilitation, then at some point, will be released to go home under an intense outpatient program.

Our journey to his health, wellness and rehabilitation is going to be a long one. The surgeons have advised Kage that he will have long term pain, continuing medical treatment and procedures, and Brenda has been advised of the incredible financial burden quality care and crucial medical supplies will cost. Of course, Brenda is still working with our firm and doing her best from the hospital, but the costs and expenses are going to be larger than we can imagine, and we are asking you to help us support Brenda and her son to provide some much-needed financial support that will help create a path for their future.

We are so lucky that Kage is a very responsible young man and always wore his helmet. If he didn’t, Brenda would be writing an obituary and planning a funeral – instead we all have the opportunity to help support our friend Brenda, her brave son Kage, and their family as they navigate this truly unimaginable experience.