Posted on January 24, 2025

Detroit Area Man Returns Home after 5 Months in Hospital After Car Crash

Imagine being trapped underneath a car for one hour while emergency crews tried to rescue you… Now imagine being the hospital for five months working on regaining the strength and function to be safely ready to return home…

Surrounded by dozens of cheering hospital staff, Sawyer Pierce, walked down the hall to continue his recovery at home. Wearing matching #SawyerStrong shirts, Mary Free Bed staff and family were in tears saying goodbye.


Back in August 28-year-old Sawyer Pierce from Highland, MI, was driving on when a driver crossed traffic and crashed into him head-on. The truck crushed Sawyer’s car pushing it back 100 feet.

When emergency crews arrived, they worked for an hour trying to free Sawyer while bystanders helped hold the air bag up, so he could breathe. Crews finally had to use a crane to lift the truck of his car.

“He shouldn’t have survived the accident, or the hour in the car, or the 20-minute drive to the hospital,” recalls Sawyer’s mother, Kelly Pierce.

After six hours in surgery, Sawyer’s family learned the extent of his injuries, that included: a traumatic brain injury, two collapsed lungs, 10 broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and a broken arm and leg.

Sawyer’s chance of survival was up and down over the next month in the ICU. During that time, he required a craniotomy due to his brain swelling to a critical level eight days after the accident. He also developed pneumonia, seven blood clots, infections, had 6 surgeries, bilateral chest tubes, and spent 17 days on a ventilator. He was finally extubated, and a tracheotomy was put in.

Finally, Sawyer was stable enough to begin the next stage of his recovery and was transferred to Mary Free Bed for intensive rehabilitation. There he began daily physical, occupational, and speech therapy, eventually going from unable to do anything by himself, to walking out with just a cane.


Sawyer is returning home with his mom, Kelly, and his dad, Mike, to continue his recovery with outpatient therapy 2-3 time a week. “Walking down the tunnel, seeing all the people there, the tears just started flowing,” recalls Kelly Pierce. “Everyone here is a champion; I’ll never forget it.”

Sawyer’s family shared their story in an interview with Detroit’s WXYZ TV: WATCH HERE

See video from Sawyer’s graduation in the video below: