Sunday, September 28, 2025
At about 2:31 a.m., while staying overnight in a hotel in Spearfish, South Dakota, on our way to Wyoming with friends, I received a phone call. Half awake, I thought it was just my alarm and ignored it. A few minutes later Paige, my wife, woke me and asked who had called. The number was unfamiliar.
I called back. A deputy from the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office answered. His voice was calm but serious. He told me that Brennen had been in a serious crash. The only details he had were that Brennen was alive and breathing when EMS left the scene.
Panic hit instantly. I called my brother and my mom, both close by, and told them to head toward Mercy Hospital in Clinton. Then I called Brennen’s mom, Sarah, to break the news no parent ever wants to deliver.
I tried calling the hospital for information but couldn’t get through at first. Finally, a member of the Andover Ambulance team answered. She explained they were actively trying to stabilize Brennen and that he would be flown to Iowa City. When I asked if she thought he would survive, she quietly said things did not look good.
Paige, our friends, and I threw everything in the car and began the ten-hour drive back to Iowa City in the dark.
A surreal moment on the way home
Not long into our trip, I saw the mangled remains of another car in the ditch along the interstate. Instinct took over. I pulled over, backed up, and went into work mode.
Inside was a young man, sore, in shock, and badly shaken. Paige and our friends called 911 while I helped get him out and kept him calm until EMS and police arrived. He kept thanking us. I told him we were on our way to see my son, who might not survive his own crash. It was surreal: helping a stranger at a crash scene while racing home to my own child’s fight for life.
Arrival at the ICU
The next ten hours of the drive were a blur of phone calls, tears, and raw fear. We reached Iowa City around 4 p.m. and finally saw Brennen in the ICU.
Nothing in my law enforcement and EMS career, after years of crashes, trauma, and scenes most people can’t imagine, prepared me for seeing my son like this. Broken. Fragile. Fighting for every breath. My heart sank. I wanted to vomit. This was my child. My firstborn. My baby.
I dropped off our friends and Paige at home, hugged my daughters tightly, then immediately returned to Iowa City to stay by Brennen’s side. That first night, I honestly didn’t know if he would make it.
Sarah and I sat together in the ICU waiting room, exhausted, scared, praying, interrupted only by doctors and new updates: back to surgery, more complications, no clear answers yet.
Current known injuries
At this point, the medical team has confirmed the following injuries and complications:
• Bilateral subdural hemorrhage (head bleeds)
• Significant brain swelling
• Retroperitoneal hematoma (internal bleeding in the groin area)
• Large bilateral pulmonary hematomas (both lungs)
• ECMO machine currently keeping him alive and supporting his lungs and heart
• L1 vertebra fractured in two places
• T12 displaced spinal fracture
• Multiple rib fractures
• Unknown amount of intra-abdominal bleeding; surgeons have repaired small liver lacerations and removed a portion of his small intestine. Approximately 1.5 liters of blood were removed from his abdominal cavity during surgery.
Why I’m writing
I’m sharing this so friends, family, and our community know what happened and don’t have to wait for scattered text updates. Brennen’s fight has just begun.
~ Dad