The Record

Johnnie survives crash, back in class

By: Joey Fiedler

The first thing junior Grady Sloan saw was five people who had pulled their cars over, running toward him. The five Good Samaritans came rushing to Sloan’s aid after a car accident left him lying in the snow in tattered clothing that barely covered his body. He was unable to move and was just two feet from a tree.

This was the scene at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, after Sloan had been ejected from his rolling Toyota 4-Runner. Fourteen days after his accident, Sloan was back on campus and walking once again.

On the day of the accident, Sloan was headed on I-94 toward his internship in St. Michael, going 70 miles per hour. He had just passed the exit for Highway 23 when he noticed two cars in the ditch. He began to slow down but couldn’t avoid the patch of black ice covering the highway. His truck slid sideways before beginning to roll.

“I wasn’t wearing a seat belt,” Sloan said. “I told myself that I’d better hold on.”

After three rolls Sloan couldn’t hold on anymore and was ejected through the sunroof. Sloan landed on his feet with so much force his shoes and socks remained in the snow as he bounced once again and landed on his back 30 feet away. His truck ended up behind him after finishing its seventh roll.

One of the five people who rushed to Sloan’s aid was a nurse who took his vitals and stabilized his neck. The other four helped keep his body warm. Two truckers stood in their short sleeve shirts in the cold after they had laid their jackets on Sloan’s body. The other two people took turns rubbing his hands and feet. All five talked to him, trying to keep him conscious.

Once in the ambulance, the paramedics took over.

“One of the paramedics told me, ‘You’re going to come out just fine,’ and I just broke down crying,” Sloan said.

After being rushed through the emergency room, Sloan settled into a room in intensive care.

“I had been in my room for 15 minutes before it was filled with family and friends from St. John’s and St. Cloud,” Sloan said. “From then on I had constant visitors. Everyone was extremely supportive and really helped me forget about the pain.”

Sloan left the hospital on Feb. 6 for his home in St. Cloud four days after his accident. He left with a broken right leg and torn ligaments in his left ankle and a hematoma in his left calf.

“I feel that I could have come away with a couple of minor scrapes if I had just worn my seat belt,” Sloan said.

The doctors gave him a timetable of six to eight weeks to be able to walk again. Sloan was able to walk in just 10 days.

“Every morning my mom was at my bedside,” Sloan said. “She was the best nurse. She wasn’t there one morning and, instead of being helpless, I told myself that I would walk. I have a boot on my left leg and I’m walking around with all my weight on my broken right leg but I am walking.”

Sloan, an entrepreneurship and management major and part of E-scholars, headed back to his internship Wednesday and went back to class on Thursday. He felt that all his teachers were extremely supportive and understanding of the situation.

Before the accident, Sloan said that he rarely wore a seat belt. While in his hospital room, Sloan and his family entered into a pact, vowing to always wear their seat belts.

Sloan continues to attend physical therapy for his injuries and is still progressing back to 100 percent healthy. After his experience, Sloan plans to advocate for the use of seat belts as much as he can.

“It’s such an easy solution to a potentially huge problem,” Sloan said. “I am a true living miracle and the only thing that saved me from death was the power of God.”

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