Little Buddy Wells was in a coma the day he turned 12.
He lost consciousness when he was thrown from his new four-wheeler on Christmas Eve 2007. It looked like survival was unlikely.
A TraumaOne helicopter took him from Folkston, GA, to the UF Health Jacksonville Trauma Center with a brain injury, chipped vertebrae in his neck, a punctured lung, broken ribs and a broken collar bone.
When Buddy did awaken, there was a long road ahead that would include relearning almost everything. He couldn’t speak, stand or even sit without assistance. His mom, Pollie Wells, compared him to a newborn baby at the time.
But today, Buddy, who just turned 18, is a tall, healthy young man who loves heading out to the woods to go hunting.
“He’s gotten three deer just this year,” his mother said.
Buddy also recently got his driver’s license, and he’s working with his mom – who home schools him – to earn his GED. Next, he hopes to attend college and specialize either in sports medicine or auto mechanics.
“He’s come a lot farther than I ever thought he would,” his mother said. “He still has some difficulties that he deals with as far as his memory and some critical thinking, but he’s very smart, and he’s aware of his cognitive issues. He’s teaching himself to deal with them.”
Buddy is one of several patients featured in the Portraits of Hope exhibition in the Trauma Center hallway at UF Health Jacksonville. He had dreamed of returning to baseball when the exhibition was unveiled, but he later found it was too difficult because of the split-second decision-making the sport requires. He’s recently begun watching the game again, however, and he’s also become a fan of watching football.
Like his parents, Buddy has a strong Christian faith that guides him.
“Buddy loves the Lord, and he knows God has a plan for his life,” Pollie Wells said.
Whatever challenges are ahead for Buddy, his mother knows of one challenge that will continue for years to come: the search for pants that fit.
“Buddy is six-foot-four. He has a 35-inch inseam and he’s very skinny. Trying to find him pants is very difficult,” she said with a laugh.
As his mama, she couldn’t be happier to deal with that challenge.
“I was just thinking at church how grateful we are to have him, and how different our lives would be if we didn’t,” she said, fighting back tears. “We still tell people what good care he received at UF Health, and we still remember each of his nurses’ names. God was really merciful in letting Buddy stay with us.”
This story is an installment in our “Where are they now?” series of updates on some of our best- known patients from years past. You can read the rest of our updates by clicking on any one of the links below:
ATV crash victim overcame head trauma and became a teacher
Patient goes from fractured skull to swimming pools and roller coasters
Patient who couldn’t open eyes or speak is back to outdoorsy lifestyle