Teen Reflects on Devastating Freshman Year Crash and Says 3 Years Later, He Can See the ‘Hidden Blessing’ (Exclusive)

Three years after the devastating twist of fate that left him with important neck and backbone accidents, Surafel Mesfin is graduating highschool.

The 17-year-old Logan High School senior tells PEOPLE that the devastating crash was once a “hidden blessing” as a result of all he discovered pushing during the tricky bodily and psychological restoration.

“This showed what I’m able to do. I could get through this,” says the Utah youngster. “This journey, although it left scars, both mentally and physically, these scars aren’t a reminder of what I lost, but what I gained.”

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On March 28, 2022, round 7:45 a.m., his older brother Kirubel was once using him to university in a Nissan Altima. At the time, Surafel was once a freshman and his older brother was once a senior.

“We were just goofing around, just listening to music,” Surafel says of the moments sooner than a water truck “came hurtling towards us.”

“I remember seeing the truck coming towards us, but I was too late to say anything. And then after that, everything went black,” he provides.

When he aroused from sleep, glass and shards of steel had been in every single place — and upon seeing his brother slumped over at the back of the wheel, Surafel concept that he had kicked the bucket.

Then his personal bodily ache hit.

“I was screaming in agony,” he recollects. “It was just all over my body, especially my hips and lower back.”

Paramedics ripped the brothers out of the auto and flew them to 2 other hospitals. Although Kirubel was once 18 on the time, Surafel was once simplest 14, so he was once despatched to a kids’s clinic in Ogden.

Surafel, whose folks and older sibling moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia sooner than he was once born, sustained two damaged ribs, and accidents to his neck and decrease again. (A GoFundMe was once established on the time to assist the Mesfin circle of relatives.)

Hospital workforce ready him for the demanding situations he would face therapeutic bodily from the devastating crash, however he says that no person talked to him in regards to the psychological hindrances he must triumph over.

“No one really told me that I was going to battle myself constantly throughout my journey,” he says. “It was once principally a dropping fight in opposition to my frame, simply being discouraged day by day of what I used to be ready to do and what I may not do on the time.”

“It was basically just a wave of depression,” he explains. “I couldn’t move. And it was just a battle between me and my body, basically, because I needed assistance with everything.”

He wanted assist consuming, sitting upright or the use of the toilet.

“It was discouraging. I just felt worthless,” he says. “Why was this happening to me?”

His brother had extra intensive accidents. He underwent a couple of emergency mind and center surgical procedures within the hours after the crash, then had further procedures to regard his damaged fingers, wrists, hips and backbone.

But Kirubel, too, was once ready to get better and he is now a 22-year-old scholar majoring in psychology on the University of Utah.

Surafel plans to wait the similar college within the fall and main in biology — and he hopes to sooner or later turn out to be a neurosurgeon.

The youngster says the resilience and gratitude he received via his restoration gave him a brand new objective and he was extra concerned volunteering in class and in his group. “I try to grow closer to the person I want to become now,” he explains. “I want to become someone who turns their pain into a possibility and acting with kindness and making others feel seen, valued, and cared for.”

“I couldn’t have done this without the support of my friends, family and community,” he says. “My friends and family told me, “Keep pushing forward.” I will fall at times, but what’s important is to get back up each time so I can just continue to push forward. I think that helps me a lot.”