On the Road to Recovery From a Serious Trauma

Danny Grigas doesn’t remember getting hit by a car while walking on a foggy, rainy night in Bethlehem.

He doesn’t remember the ambulance ride to the emergency room at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg, unresponsive and with very low oxygen levels.

He doesn’t remember his 27 days in intensive care, or his multiple surgeries to repair internal injuries, or his 22nd birthday in intensive care, or his parents by his bedside day and night.

Looking back on his ordeal now, his memories begin on one memorable day – the day he was discharged from the hospital.

“Everyone came,” says the Frackville man, now 23. “Everyone who cared for me was there.”

“When Danny says everybody, he means everybody,” says Ed Grigas, Danny’s father. “Doctors, nurses, techs, even some people who weren’t on duty. There was even one guy in a suit, from the business office, who said he wanted to meet the patient everyone was talking about.”

When he arrived at the emergency room on that night in April 2024, Danny Grigas had a traumatic brain injury, fractures of his neck, a lacerated lung and severe chest trauma that was making it hard for him to breathe. He also had numerous lacerations and puncture wounds.

His blood pressure dropped so severely that he was rushed to the operating room as a Code Omega, which is life-threatening bleeding. Exploratory surgery showed a grade 5 liver laceration, the most severe in the trauma surgery grading system for this type of injury.

“They told us he needed 30 units of blood in the first couple of days,” Ed Grigas says. “His surgeon came out to talk with us,” his mom, Kim Grigas, recalls. “She said he was very, very sick.”

“This was a very serious liver injury,” says trauma surgeon Priyal Patel, MD. “It was touch and go for the first 72 hours.”

On his second day in the hospital, Grigas needed surgery to stabilize his high cervical spine injuries. He underwent a cervical fusion and would need a special neck and back brace. He also needed a tracheostomy, an opening in his windpipe, so he could breathe.

After leaving the hospital, Grigas spent six weeks at an inpatient spinal cord rehab facility. Since his discharge from there in July 2024, his family has been driving him back to the facility three times a week for outpatient physical and occupational therapy.

Today, the former high school wrestler is paralyzed from the chest down because of the severity of his spinal injuries. But through persistence and therapy, he has gotten stronger, he has learned to eat on his own with specialized utensils and he is able to get around by pushing his chair by himself.

In fact, he’s planning to return to his business administration studies this summer at Muhlenberg College by taking an online course. He’s eight credits away from his degree.

“He’s making progress, although right now it’s at a snail’s pace,” his mom says. “They told us it will be a couple of years before we know how much progress he will make” in returning to his previous abilities and mobility.

“The reason Danny did as well as he did is a testament to how strong he is personally,” Dr. Patel says. “Family support played a huge role in his recovery.”

“It’s a miracle Danny survived,” his mom says. “We have a lot to be thankful for.”

The family is extremely grateful to the trauma team and to everyone who cared for Grigas during his treatment at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg. “From the doctors and nurses to the staff and even to the chaplain, everyone was great,” Ed Grigas says. “We can’t think of one negative or complaint for the whole time he was there.”

Danny Grigas puts it this way: “Thank you to everyone who helped me. Thank you for saving my life.”