I survived being 'internally decapitated' after a drunk driver plowed into me

Release time：2024-05-07 23:28:35 Source：Global Glean news portal

A mother has revealed how she cheated death after being 'internally decapitated' by a drunk truck driver.

Stephanie Ronan of North Carolina suffered an Atlanto-occipital dislocation, when the skull and the top of the spine become detached but the neck skin remains intact.

She was leaving a friend's house at around 11pm on September 29, 2018 when suddenly a truck crossed into her lane and hit her at 55 miles per hour, sending her flying into a ditch. The driver was found to be drunk. 

The break in her neck caused ligaments and muscles holding the skull in position on the top vertebrae of the spine to tear from the skull - an injury that kills the majority of sufferers. 

Ms Ronan said: 'I may appear like most women my age, but I must face daily unnecessary struggles that I did not ask for. Due to the rate of speed and the type of impact caused, my body will never be the same.' 

Stephanie Ronan of North Carolina suffered an Atlanto-occipital dislocation which is when the skull and the top of the spine become detached but the skin remains intact

She had to have hardware surgically inserted in her neck to repair the dislocation

As well as the spinal tear, she also suffered broken ribs, a broken femur, a broken kneecap, a broken foot, collapsed lungs, liver bruising, and PTSD, which makes driving and sitting in the passenger seat emotionally excruciating, she told Newsweek. 

She said: 'The trauma surgeons saved my life that night by putting me back together with hardware in my neck, femur, tibia, foot, and ribs. The impact also caused one of my eyes to cross, which left me with a visual impairment.'

The most severe injury was the separation of her neck from her skull, colloquially dubbed an internal decapitation.

She added: 'I still remember opening my eyes and feeling utter panic while in the hospital. With limited range of motion in my neck and shoulder, driving again was a challenge. I've had to depend on blind spot monitoring in my new vehicle as well as special mirrors.'  

'To this day, I still having chronic pain and stress from the events that occurred that day.' 

The ditch that her car tumbled into was about 500 feet away. She had only gotten about three miles from her friend's. 

She had to be cut out of her vehicle and whisked away in a helicopter to get to the hospital as fast as possible. 

The drunk driver had a suspended license and beer cans in the car, Ms Ronan said.  About three weeks before hitting Ms Ronan, the man had gotten a DUI and lost his license. 

She spent 19 days in the ICU where she was placed on a ventilator, followed by 11 days in the recovery unit, and 23 days on the rehab floor of the hospital

Ms Ronan now volunteers with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to hopefully turn her pain into a means of helping others. 

She now volunteers with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which has given her a sense of meaning. 

She said: 'There's a great reward for turning my pain into something that might help others. 

'Lastly, I have learned to be grateful for the good days and allow myself grace when my body is in severe pain, when I can't do the things I want or need to do.'  

Internal decapitation is most commonly seen in motor vehicle accidents. 

Severe injury to the spinal cord disrupts vital nerve signals between the brain and the body, which can lead to paralysis, impaired respiratory and heart function, and motor abilities. 

Indiana man survives internal decapitation after beating brain cancer 

Brock Meister, 22, of Plymouth, Indiana, beat incredible odds and survived an internal decapitation in January, which is when the skull separates from the spinal cord. 

Researchers behind a 2015 study on Atlanto-occipital dislocation said: 'When present, neurological injury from AOD can be devastating, often leading to sudden death secondary to brainstem injury.

'Previous autopsy reports have documented AOD as cause of death in 6%-8% of traffic fatalities. However, not every case of AOD will result in fatality or severe disability.' 

The condition is more commonly seen in children and adolescent , because the bones are not fully developed yet and may still contain cartilage. 

They're also more likely to have proportionally larger heads and weaker neck muscles than adults. 

It has a very high fatality rate, though the true number of people who die from it is unclear, because often times crash victims do not undergo autopsies after death. 

A 2005 study reported that 16 children were seen at a Philadelphia hospital with AOD over a 17-year period, and 12 of them died, marking a fatality rate of 75 percent.

The normal distance between the skull and spine is usually 1-2 millimeters.

Christy Bullock, an Alabama native who rounded a turn too sharply while riding a motorcycle hit a guardrail. While it stopped her body, her head, in a heavy helmut, kept going forward. 

The separation between her head and spine was 10 to 15 milimeters. 

Related articles