HereCare – Dylan’s Story

On May 11, 2023, Cameron and Heather Travis received a phone call they could never have predicted. One of their sons, Dylan, had been in a motor vehicle accident.

Dylan was rushed by ambulance to Ascension Seton Highland Lakes, but immediately transferred to Ascension Seton Williamson due to the severity of his injuries.

At 4:30am, Cameron, Heather, and their other son, Lane, raced to Ascension Seton Williamson. “That was the longest hour and a half of our lives,” said Cameron.

Dylan had a punctured lung, broken ribs, a severely damaged neck and head. Scans showed a significant amount of blood around his brain and brain swelling. The trauma surgery team removed a portion of Dylan’s skull to ensure there was room for his brain to swell.

The first time they saw Dylan, later that morning, was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). “To see your son laying there like that – lifeless – it’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” Cameron said.

“We were swimming in uncharted waters. We had no idea what we were facing. We had no idea what his prognosis was,” shared Heather.

Dylan’s physician, Dr. Bhakta, was intent on getting Dylan into rehab as quickly as possible. After a number of surgeries and an extensive stay in the ICU, Dylan was transferred to an inpatient rehab facility to regain his strength and independence and work on skills he’d need upon being discharged – skills like walking, communicating, eating and feeding himself, dressing himself, and more.

Dylan can now walk with assistance and can partially dress himself. While he can’t currently talk, he’s continuing to go to speech therapy regularly in the hopes that he will regain the ability to speak.

“The team at Ascension Seton Williamson was great. They’re why he’s alive and here with us today,” said Cameron and Heather.

The first thing the Travis family did when Dylan was discharged from the hospital was go fishing, which Dylan had been looking forward to.

“To all of the nurses and doctors – you have my most sincere, deepest thank you. We have our son today because of y’all,” Heather said.

Published: October 21st, 2024