CORPUS CHRISTI — “We’re so proud of you,” a nurse said as she hugged her former trauma patient, 17-year-old Holden Weaver.
He may not have remembered the faces behind the many hugs he received on November 7 in a meeting room at Christus Spohn Shoreline Hospital.
But they sure didn’t forget him.
“I was one of the doctors who took care of you,” retired doctor Michael Halpert said.
On Sept. 23, 2022 Holden was in an accident off county roads 12 and 57 near Chapman Ranch.
“He was ejected from an ATV he hit his head on the roll bar.”
He was taken to Christus Spohn Shoreline Hospital unresponsive but breathing.
“He had gross deformities to his head, his face, he had open lacerations,” Doctor John Adamski, the trauma medical director at Spohn, said. “In fact, the things that many people don’t know is that he actually had brain exposed.”
Holden underwent emergency surgery suffering from numerous fractures, brain swelling, brain bleeding, a seizure and other trauma.
“His potential to die was very high on many days during his stay here at the hospital,” Doctor Adamski said.
His mom, dad and little brother Hudson remained by his side and prayed.
“He was kept sedated for many days,” Doctor Adamski said. “When we finally woke him up, he didn’t follow commands.”
Holden couldn’t speak, move or even breathe on his own.
After a month of round-the-clock care at Christus Spohn Shoreline, Holden was transferred to a long-term acute care facility, Texas NueroRehab Center, in Austin.
“There, the focus was to get out of bed every single day,” Blaine Weaver said.
Blaine said his son was still on oxygen when he arrived in Austin but he was weened off completely before the holidays.
“The week After Thanksgiving, Holden spoke his first words,” Blaine said.
“I love you mom,” Holden said. “That is the first thing I remembered. Those were my first words.”
The Weaver family’s prayers were answered.
“We’d been praying to hear his voice for what felt like an eternity,” Blaine said. “I was actually praying he’d say ‘I love you dad, first.”
Holden would then go on to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado.
It is widely considered the best neurorehabilitation facility in the country.
“Craig is phenomenal with all of the robots and gadgets and everything you could possibly need to recover from an injury like this,” Blaine said.
But Blaine said Holden had a little setback when they arrived at Craig.
“He quit talking,” Blaine said. “We were absolutely devastated since being able to communicate with Holden was so imperative for our hope and sanity.”
Through an MRI, doctors found Holden suffered from Hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain.
“We decided to put a VP shot in Holden’s brain to drain off the fluid,” Blaine said.
Once he got the shot, Holden almost immediately started talking again and he made major physical gains.
Holden had therapy five days a week at Craig.
“From helping him learn how to walk, talk, eat drink, get dressed, they helped with it all,” Blaine said.
His community back home continued to pray, support and fundraise under the #Holdenstrong.
During our interview, I asked Holden how it felt when he realized he had so much support.
“I feel great,” Holden said. “And I feel very loved. And special knowing that everyone was praying for me.”
In January, I did a story on a golf tournament Blaine started several years ago to fundraise for kids in the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show, which the Weavers are heavily involved in.
In 2023, the tournament was also partially to help raise money for Holden’s medical expenses.
It would be two months later that the Weaver’s said God answered another one of their prayers.
“By the grace of God, Holden walked out of Craig with minimal help on March 15,” Blaine said.
The family then moved Holden to outpatient therapy at the Center for Neuro Skills in Irving.
“This was the first time in six months that we all four got to live under the same roof,” Blaine said.
Blaine said this is where Holden made the most physical and cognitive gains.
“All of the things that we take for granted that make us independent people, Holden started doing,” Blaine said.
By June 2023, Holden was home.
“We would have stayed gone ten years and gone to the ends of the earth if that’s what it took,” Blaine said. “But thankfully we were able to come home just after nine months.”
On Tuesday Nov. 7, 2023, Holden got the chance to say thank you to the people who saved his life during a trauma reunion at Christus Spohn Shoreline.
“I haven’t seen him until today and so for him to look up and shake my hand,” Doctor Adamski said. “It made me even more a believer in what I do for a living and what everyone in this community does to provide that care for someone like Holden.”
Someone who, immediately upon entering the room, went up to different healthcare workers and gave them a hug or a special hand-shake.
His smile and laughter, contagious.
Doctor Adamski took the podium to summarize Holden’s month in the hospital.
“When you’re involved as a physician, you take care of these patients as if they’re your family members and you see them progress” Doctor Adamski said. “But you don’t always get the chance to see how far they’ve come.”
Doctor Adamski credits the medical workers in the building as the miracle workers who kept Holden alive.
“Without a level two trauma center or a trauma center that has the necessary resources to provide that care in an expedient manner, he would have died,” Doctor Adamski said.
Blaine also took the podium to talk about Holden's progress from Spohn to home.
Holden said his goal is to get his left arm straight. During our interview, he showed me the little bend in his arm that he tried to push it straight.
Holden said he's not 115 percent.
“We know that he will get there,” Blaine said. “We’ve got nothing but time and Holden’s got nothing but effort. Maybe a little attitude.”
Holden still goes to outpatient therapy at PAM Health in Corpus Christi.
“What keeps you going because you’ve come so far?” I asked Holden. “What keeps me going?” Holden said. “The number one thing keeping me going is my faith.”
The Weavers said they are forever grateful to the first responders, the nurses, doctors, therapists and hospital staff.
“When you look at everyone that’s touched Holden’s lives, they’re all miracle workers,” Doctor Adamski said.
Holden said he would do anything to pay back the men and women who saved his life.
“Ya’ll are the reason I’m still here today,” Holden said. “Ya’ll are the reason I’m not in the ground. Ya’ll are the reason I’m alive. So thank you so very much.”
Holden has been able to do things around his family’s ranch like riding on horseback, swinging a golf club and even riding on a boat.
“To see him back playing golf and do that again, to me, was even better than seeing him interact with people because he went back to doing things that were quality to him,” Doctor Adamski said. “That’s success.”
Success that Holden hopes to continue. He is still on track to graduate high school in 2025. He hopes to go to Texas A&M University.
“I’d love to go to college for business,” Holden said. “Some sort of business scholarship because I already own W&W pressure washing.”
Holden had three other friends in the accident with him. KRIS 6 was told they are doing okay.
