GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A fall from a tree stand back in November left a Michigan hunter paralyzed. Nine weeks later, she walked out of Mary Free Bed Friday and right into the next chapter of her life.
“We got out to the double ladder stand, I climbed up and settled in and Evan started climbing up,” Adyson Bryce recalled.
Bryce and her boyfriend, Evan Kennard, were getting ready to deer hunt on November 7, 2023, at her father's property in Frankenmuth — then, tragedy struck.
“A couple seconds later, we started hearing these weird sounds and then it, the blind, just came crashing down,” Bryce explained.
“Remember not really hitting the ground, but my first thought was, 'where's Ady?' and I looked for her and seen her laying there.” Kennard recalled.
The couple fell about 15 feet to the ground. Kennard was bruised and sore, but Bryce wasn't able to move.
"Things started getting black around in my vision and then I could hear, you know, my breathing. It was getting gurgling so that was freaky," Bryce shared.
Kennard ran to get help. Soon after, Bryce was being airlifted to Hurley Medical Center in Flint. There, doctors found that she had fractured a vertebrae in her neck, which left her partially paralyzed.
"I had no feeling from, like, anywhere. I guess I could feel my upper body, but not my lower body, at all. My hands were not moving, but I could move my arms," Bryce explained. "I couldn't move anything, so we wanted to get the best shot possible at me walking and being able to take care of myself."
So, after her surgery in Flint, Bryce decided to go to Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids where she went through intense physical therapy.
"It was extremely hard. I broke down multiple times, you know. The biggest thing was not being able to do my own makeup or get myself ready in the morning at all," Bryce said.
But, after awhile, she started being able to move her hands again, and then one day, she was able to stand.
"You know, just standing for the first time, it really pushed me...'I can take a step, like, I can do this.' And then, you know, they were waiting for me to be able to bend my knee and then I bent my knee," Bryce said. "And the next, you know, Monday, they're like, 'alright, let's get after it,' and we got up on the zero g and I took my first couple steps."
Friday, Bryce walked out of Mary Free Bed to continue her rehabilitation at home.
Staff, along with her family, lined the hall for a graduation tunnel as Bryce went through.
But, before Bryce left, Kennard had a surprise question for her — "Will you marry me?" — to which she quickly answered, "yes."
