Idaho runner determined to come back after surviving ATV crash

By Marlowe Hereford for DyeStat

BLACKFOOT, Idaho — Michelle Pratt isn’t letting a back brace and a cast discourage her.

Although she is currently refraining from strenuous activity, the Blackfoot High School graduate is longing to be healthy enough to go for a run.

“I want to do everything I can to get to that point again,” she said. “Nothing is impossible.”

The Weber State signee is recovering from injuries sustained July 3 following an ATV crash in Fillmore, Utah, that sent her and 20 year-old cousin Danielle Lewis off a 300-foot cliff when the brakes failed.

Both girls were injured, but Pratt took the brunt of it. She suffered a concussion, fractured vertebra, a broken hand, a broken foot and a torn carotid artery that caused a stroke, a blood clot in her brain and temporary paralysis to her left side. 

After stays in two hospitals, Pratt has regained much of her memory and is walking long distances unassisted. She returned July 29 to Blackfoot — three days before her originally scheduled discharge date and much earlier than what was anticipated during her first week of hospitalization.

Pratt was preparing to move to Ogden, Utah, in mid-July, but has withdrawn from Weber State and will take the next year to undergo physical and cognitive therapy. Weber State head cross country coach and head women’s track coach Paul Pilkington said he will hold Pratt’s scholarship until she has recovered enough to re-enroll.

Running again is the latest in a long line of big goals for Pratt, whose drive has produced numerous accolades the last three years: four school records, six state track gold medals and three state cross country medals, including the 2016 Idaho 4A individual state title.

She is Idaho’s all-time fastest 800-meter performer (2:11.47 on May 20 to make her a three-time state champion in the event) and ranks No. 6 in state history in the 1,600 (4:58.06 on May 6).

Michelle’s mother Alisa has witnessed that tenacity firsthand, and she is not surprised at the pace of her daughter’s recovery. 

“It has been amazing to see this whole process,” Alisa said. “Just a true miracle. There’s no explanation. She defies everything. She’s a very positive kid who has a drive. It’s just unbelievable.”

The crash and aftermath

The Utah vacation for the Pratts took an unexpected turn July 3 during a picnic trip to the mountains above Chalk Creek Canyon near Fillmore, located 102 miles south of Provo.

Michelle and Lewis took one ATV down into the canyon while Michelle’s uncle Lonnie Rasmussen and another cousin rode ahead on another ATV. Other relatives followed the ATVs in trucks.

After meeting with Rasmussen farther down the road, Michelle replaced Lewis as driver. As switchbacks neared, Michelle tried slowing down. Squeezing the brakes didn’t work and neither did the emergency brake or switching gears, and the ATV had sped up from 20 mph to nearly 30 mph.

The last thing Michelle remembered before the crash was seeing a cliff ahead and turning the ATV in a final attempt to slow down, a maneuver she was later informed likely saved their lives.

Michelle awoke to a bloody helmet, pain in her back when she tried to move and Lewis screaming for help and saying she thought her leg was broken.

“It was just sheer rock that we landed on,” Michelle said. “I lifted up my hand and it was really swollen.”

Rasmussen realized something was wrong once everyone except Michelle and Lewis had made it to the bottom of the road. Upon scouring the canyon, they located the girls by their screams for help and the sound of their ATV still running. They discovered the ATV 100 yards from where Michelle and Lewis landed.

Alisa, who was not on the outing and received information later in sporadic updates, said there is no cell service in Chalk Creek Canyon, yet a relative was able to get reception long enough to call 911 upon finding Michelle and Lewis. Alisa counts that as one of many miracles to occur that week.

After EMTs transported her to Utah Valley University hospital in Orem, Michelle had an MRI that revealed she experienced a major stroke that damaged 25 percent of her brain. Michelle’s father, Mike, arranged for her to be transported to the University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City, where she arrived the evening of July 4.

Lewis, who broke her femur, was treated at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, and had surgery to put a rod in her leg and was walking by July 5.

Much uncertainty surrounded Michelle, however, upon discovery of the blood clot and paralysis from the stroke. She was put on blood thinners and monitored around the clock in the neuro department for three days. To help prevent possible spinal injury, she was fitted with a neck collar and back brace and could not turn over in bed without assistance. Because she was highly medicated, she was not awake much.

“Those were rough days when we were in ICU,” Alisa said. “With any traumatic brain injury, there is the risk of more bleeding.”

Michelle was fully alert July 7 and could move her left leg and shoulder. By July 10, she was moved out of ICU and walking with assistance. Alisa said the University of Utah doctors had been positive from the start, and each day Michelle showed progress.

“They said she’s got a good possibility of recovery. She hasn’t totally lost paths to her brain,” Alisa said. “We went with that.”

Road to recovery

One of Michelle’s first thoughts upon beginning physical and cognitive therapy was her battle since sixth grade with Guillain-Barre’ syndrome, a condition in which the immune system attacks the body. She still deals with lingering effects, but the worst of the symptoms have vanished with age. 

“If I can make it through that, I can make it through this,” Michelle said. “If I can start from ground zero before, I can do it again.”

Her determination was sparked by her running career which began in eighth grade. Guillain-Barre’ taught her to persevere through challenges, and she has applied that perseverance to racing.

Her first day of physical therapy personified that.

“She just looked at me at the top of the stairs, shook her head and started crying,” Alisa said. “‘I’m never gonna run again,’ she said. ‘If I can’t even do stairs, how am I gonna go run?’ I told her, ‘Michelle, continue on this path and you’re gonna run again.’”

The next day, she walked with one assistant. By July 14, she was visibly exhausting her physical therapists, one of whom said it was becoming difficult to create exercises for her. Another remarked that they had never seen a patient with a brain injury recover so quickly. 

“They were like, ‘at least we know you have your stamina,’” Michelle said, grinning.

She even “escaped” her bed a few times when Alisa wasn’t around, even though she was told to call the nurse when she needed something.

“They came in and found me sitting (getting back into bed),” Michelle said. “They put an alarm on my bed after that.”

Receiving cards and messages from runners from all over Idaho has also encouraged Michelle. Mountain View sophomore and adidas Dream Mile winner Lexy Halladay visited her in the hospital en route to a reunion in Utah and she received a poster signed by runners from Soda Springs, Blackfoot and Idaho Falls.

On July 24, Pilkington brought his wife and some Weber State runners to visit her.

Pilkington, a Blackfoot native, was in Puerto Rico on July 4 when he received a text from fellow Blackfoot native John Gregory that read, “Did you hear what happened to Michelle?” He immediately called Gregory, who informed him about the crash.

“When they told me how far the fall was, I was like ‘No one can live through that. They must be mistaken,’” Pilkington said by phone.

He said the Wildcats stayed in the loop about her condition and wanted to visit her as soon as possible. They already consider her a teammate, and holding her scholarship was an easy decision.

“It’s how I’d want someone to treat one of my children,” Pilkington said. “I have complete faith that she’s gonna be able to eventually go to school, get her degree and as an athlete, the back’s gonna heal up and she’ll get the range of motion and coordination back.”

Michelle had her first biweekly therapy appointment Aug. 1, a schedule she will maintain for the next year. None of her bone injuries require surgery. She had the cast removed from her left hand Tuesday and she has to wear the back brace for another month. Alisa said Michelle’s other carotid artery widened and shot off some other veins to help heal the damaged carotid. She will stay on blood thinners for four to six months while the clot dissolves.

“They’re calling me ‘Wolverine,’” Michelle said with a laugh. “My brain’s rewiring itself.”

As an eastern Idahoan, Pilkington said he can relate to Michelle’s background of training in high winds and extreme cold. The fact she achieved her personal bests while averaging 20 to 25 miles per week in ever-changing weather amazed him when he recruited her, and he is confident she has untapped potential. He anticipates she will not only fully recover, but compete at the national and international levels.

“I told her, when you make an Olympic team, they’re gonna love your story,” Pilkington said. “If you get to that level, they can make a movie of it. It ties into the fact she is a different individual. That’s part of what made her good and an elite high school runner is to be motivated and push through things. That’s a characteristic that I, as a coach, can’t teach.”

Michelle also believes she will fully recover. She is already setting goals for her return (a 2-minute flat 800 is at the top of her list) and is drawing inspiration from the stories of athletes who have made comebacks from traumatic injuries.

“I want to be the same way,” Michelle said. “I can be one of the inspirational ones.”