Brandy Warehime to Celebrate “Home Run For Life” with OKC Dodgers
Stay in INTEGRIS Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation allowed Warehime to return to everyday life following car crash
The date March 15, 2018 is forever engrained in Brandy Warehime’s memory.
It was the day her life completely changed.
Warehime was driving westbound on the John Kilpatrick Turnpike and went to take the May Avenue exit in north Oklahoma City. She lost control of her car and spun three times before her car rolled four times.
The then-24-year-old was ejected from the vehicle and thrown about 70 feet, suffering extensive injuries.
Warehime broke her clavicle, scapula, pelvis, 12 ribs and her femur.
She shattered her back and thoracic spine.
She suffered a stroke, coma and a traumatic brain injury.
“I have two rods and four screws in my leg and I have two rods and 12 screws in my back holding me together now,” she said.
Her journey to recovery involved almost three months in hospitals and care centers, concluding with three weeks at INTEGRIS Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation where she started to resume everyday activities.
Now more than three years later, Warehime is enjoying life with a new perspective thanks to the care she received at INTEGRIS Health. She married her husband Jake in June 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Weatherford, Okla.-based couple is now expecting their first child.
“Life has changed a lot since my accident,” Warehime said. “You enjoy the little things, so I take life a little bit slower…Find time to (do things) because you are not promised tomorrow…Now we are so excited because we will be welcoming our sweet little baby in February.”
But in March 2018, Warehime was fighting for her own life. During surgery, doctors learned she had a stroke. Then following the surgery she didn’t wake up for eight days.
Warehime spent 10 days in a level one intensive care unit, then another week in an intensive care unit one level down. She spent three weeks at a long-term acute care hospital before transferring to INTEGRIS Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation where she would spend the next three weeks before finally being able to return home.
“(It) was my last stop on my long road,” she said. “My learning and starting to live life normal was all done at Jim Thorpe.
“I remember my first therapist helping me put on a pair of pants, which seems so small, but at the time it was such a big thing because I hadn’t had pants on in a long time. I remember getting to stand up and getting to learn how to walk and start doing all the things that were normal and I wanted to be back to myself as soon as possible.”
Warehime said she never wanted to stop trying.
She never missed a therapy session and persevered.
“I just kept going and kept trying,” she said. “All of my therapists, we’re still friends to this day. They were incredible people and that’s why I get to be where I am right now.
“The words thank you can never be enough to every single therapist that helped me along the way.”
The Warehimes donated all of their wedding flowers to INTEGRIS Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation last summer.
“Just to brighten the patients’ days and for them to just see a little joy in a crazy time because that’s what you need when you are there is just joy and that’s what I tried to be to anyone I saw,” she said.
She also wants to say thank you to all of the INTEGRIS Health staff who helped her throughout her journey.
“Thank you for allowing me to walk, for teaching me how to do everything that I do; for encouraging me during the most mentally trying time of my life and thank you for standing by me through life now,” Warehime said. “I appreciate each of you more than you will ever understand.”
