A 21-year-old who nearly died in a fiery car crash in Mission Viejo returned to the hospital to visit the team that saved his life. Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News on Jan. 11, 2024.
A 21-year-old man who survived a fiery car crash in Orange County two years ago returned to the hospital on Thursday to share his gratitude to the team that saved his life.
Jackson Gutierrez had an emotional reunion with the medical professionals at Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo after he shared his thanks for helping him survive. Now using prosthetics on his legs, Gutierrez stepped into the hospital to an echo of applause.
“I’m here to just express my gratitude and say thank you for all the people who’ve performed the life-saving surgeries on me,” he told NBC4.
In December 2021, he was in a car crash on Newport Coast Drive that nearly cost him his life. First responders were able to free him from the vehicle but the incident cost him both his legs.
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“As a result of the crash, I had both of my legs amputated above the knee,” Gutierrez recounted. “I had severe second- and third-degree burns. I had a traumatic brain injury. Also, some broken bones; the list goes on and on.”
The crash survivor said he struggled through intense physical therapy until he learned to walk again. While he continues on a lifelong road to recovery, he’s studying psychology at Texas A&M University in hopes of connecting with others who’ve had similar experiences
“I’d like to be that motivating force for some people,” he said.
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In the meantime, he looks back on the crash as a pivotal moment in his life that gave him clarity.
“It’s given me a new sense of purpose and a new sense of what path to go down in life,” Gutierrez said. “I think kind of before, I was in sort of an uncertain time and I didn’t really have a direction, I didn’t really know where I was going or what I was going to do.”
