Teen reunites with doctors who saved his life
By Beth Kramer ekramer@stmedianetwork.com November 23, 2011 7:44PM
Libertyville, 11/23/11 Forrest Ericksen of Lake Villa talks with the doctors that helped save his life after a snowmobile accident one year ago at Advocate Condell Medical Center Nov. 23. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 23, 2012 4:42AM
Lake Villa teen Forrest Ericksen couldn’t think of a better time than the day before Thanksgiving to meet and thank the trauma physicians who saved his life.
At 16, Ericksen was thrown from a snowmobile while racing in Wauconda. He wore $5,000 worth of protective gear from head to toe, but still suffered blunt force trauma to his neck and face.
He was transported to Lake County’s only Level 1 Trauma Center at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. A team of doctors and hospital personnel treated him while he was in a coma for 17 days.
On Wednesday, Ericksen, 18, and his parents, Mary Ellen and Jeffery Ericksen of Lake Villa, reunited with four of the doctors who saved his life almost two years ago.
“I’m a very lucky young man,” Ericksen said. “I thought what better time than now to thank them.”
Medical Director of Trauma Dr. William Watson was the trauma surgeon on call when Ericksen was transported to the hospital on Jan. 2, 2010.
“When he came in, I wasn’t sure if he would make it through the night,” Watson recalled.
Ericksen said he doesn’t recall the accident. Watson said Ericksen “was doing everything right” from wearing a helmet and protective gear, but was thrown over the handle bar of the snowmobile after one of the skis broke. A ski struck Ericksen in the neck causing the blunt force trauma.
Ericksen suffered broken bones in his face and at the base of his skull. A facial artery was severed that put him in danger of bleeding to death.
Dr. Shayle Patzik, head of interventional radiology, performed the embolization procedure to stop the bleeding. Traditional surgery was not an option to stop the blood flow, Patzik said.
“It looked very severe. There was quite a bit of bleeding,” Patzik said. “Oftentimes, you do things you certainly do the best you can, but you don’t always get the results you wants. (Reuniting) makes you feel good about what you do.”
Inspired by the physicians at Condell, Ericksen decided to become a doctor himself and is in premed as a freshman at the University of Illinois.
“They saved my life. You just want to go and be him (gesturing to Dr. Watson) and give back,” Ericksen said to explain why he wants to be a doctor.
He was sure to give each doctor a hug with his thank-you.
Ericksen spent about three and a half months in physical therapy re-learning how to talk and walk. Aside from some problems with his ocular nerves, he is back to his healthy self.
He is also back to snowmobiling, only he goes a little slower now and doesn’t race.
He credited his parents with giving him the strength to get through his ordeal. He said his mom never left his side.
She teared up and called the near loss of her middle child “horrible.”
“I was just very happy that he was finally able to meet the doctors,” Mary Ellen said.
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