Former trauma patients thank UMC medical staff

Caitlin Hudgins

Thursday, May 20, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.

NASCAR driver Richard Attisani Jr. was in a drug-induced coma for two months last summer while trauma surgeons worked to save his life after an accident at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway that left him with a broken back and ribs, collapsed lung and head trauma.

Now with no trace of the injuries he suffered after crashing into a wall last August, Attisani says he is looking for a new sponsor and a comeback.

"Someday I hope my mother will forgive me, but I am planning on going back to racing," Attisani said.

Attisani was one of many former University Medical Center Trauma Center patients who gathered Wednesday to thank the doctors and medical staff who saved their lives. The event brought doctors, nurses, and patients together to show that the trauma center does "good for people in times of crisis," Dr. John Ellerton, the chief of medical staff, said.

The luncheon, complete with china, silver, and a meat carving station, brought patients together "to celebrate surviving their trauma experience with others who have been through that," Chief Executive Lacy Thomas said.

Greg Sargent, 19, shared his trauma experience with other patients even before the luncheon. In rehabilitation for the traumatic brain injury he suffered during a single car roll-over accident last December, he made friends he mingled with again during the event.

Although Sargent was not expected to live, the nurses and doctors at the medical center brought him out of a three-week coma, Sargent's parents, John and Paula Stansberry, said.

The accident changed Sargent's life. "He realized he'd come that close to not being here," his mother said. Added his father: "Now he's just more of a goofball."

Another trauma survivor, Brian Britt, was in an accident while riding his motorcycle on the Las Vegas Beltway. Luckily, not only was his brother following on another motorcycle, but an ambulance was also close behind and rushed him to the trauma center.

Medical staff performed five surgeries in 10 days on Britt. "They had a game plan, and that made me confident," Britt's mother said. "If it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be here."

R.J. Bailey was also involved in a motorcycle accident. He was knocked unconscious and spent three months in the hospital. "I appreciate everything that has been done by UMC," his mother, Maureen Bailey said. Thanks to the their staff, she said, "I still have my son today."

While asleep in the back of his band's tour van, Mark Harper, 20, was thrown out its back doors in an accident. His skull was crushed and he was in a coma for a month, not expected to ever see, walk or talk again.

Wednesday, though, he walked onto the stage to perform one of his songs, "I'm Alive," for the assembled crowd at the luncheon. "It was a blessing that the doctors were here to help me," Harper said.

Taylor Nelson, 14, just wanted to play baseball. But he was involved in a hit- and-run accident on his bicycle, sending him into a six-day coma followed by a two-month stint in a wheelchair. On April 27, he played his first game since the collision, striking out 11 of his opponents. "We're grateful to UMC," his mother, Michelle Nelson, said.

All of the trauma survivors were excited to see the nurses and doctors who saved their lives, but the medical staff were just as happy to meet with their patients again.

"You just love it when people walk back in and say 'Do you remember me?"' Kathi Mosich, a registered nurse in the trauma center's intensive care unit said.

The luncheon made her realize the value of her job.

"What you do really makes a difference," she said.