GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WXMI) - A fall from a tree stand in November 2023 left a Michigan hunter paralyzed.
Nine weeks later, Adyson Bryce walked out of the hospital after rehabilitation and into the next chapter of her life.
On Nov. 7, Bryce and her boyfriend, Evan Kennard, were getting ready to hunt deer on her father’s Frankenmuth, Michigan, property when tragedy struck.
“We got out to the double-ladder stand and I climbed up, was getting settled in and Evan started climbing up,” Bryce recalled. “Couple seconds later, we started hearing these weird sounds and the blind just came crashing down.”
The couple fell about 15 feet.
“I remember not really hitting the ground, but my first thought was, ‘Where’s Ady?’ And I looked for her and seen her laying there,” Kennard said.
Kennard was bruised and sore, but Bryce was hurt and unable to move.
“Things started getting black around in my vision and then I could hear my breathing. It was like gurgling,” Bryce said.
Kennard ran and got help. Bryce was airlifted to Hurley Hospital in Flint.
Doctors there found she had fractured a vertebrae in her neck, leaving her partially paralyzed.
“I had no feeling anywhere,” Bryce stated. “I guess I could feel my upper body, but not my lower body at all. My hands were not moving, but I could move my arms.”
After going through surgery in Flint, Bryce’s mother decided to send her to Mary Free Bed to help her learn how to regain motion in her hands and legs.
“I couldn’t move anything, so we wanted to get the best shot possible at me walking and being able to take care of myself,” Bryce said.
Doctors and staff at Mary Free Bed set out to do just that.
Every day, Bryce would go through intense physical therapy.
“It was extremely hard. I broke down multiple times, you know? The biggest thing was not being able to do my own makeup or get myself ready in the morning at all,” Bryce described.
Slowly, Bryce started moving her hands and was able to stand again.
“You know, just standing for the first time, it really pushed me like, ‘Oh, I can take a step. I can do this,’” Bryce said. “They were waiting for me to be able to bend my knee and then I bent my knee. And the next Monday, they’re like, ‘Alright, let’s get after it,’ and we got up on the zero-G and I took my first couple steps.”
On Jan. 19, just nine weeks later, all of her hard work paid off.
Bryce left Mary Free Bed to continue her rehabilitation at home.
To send her off, the staff and her family lined the hall for a graduation tunnel as she walked out, but before she could leave, her boyfriend had a surprise for her.
Kennard took a knee and proposed to Bryce.
She quickly said, “Yes.”
Bryce still has a lot of work ahead to gain more strength and mobility, but she is just glad to be going home with her new fiancé.
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