No one ever wants to be injured, sick and stuck in the hospital. Yet, calamity strikes, and sometimes at the most inopportune times, such as right before you begin a new job, right before your wedding and even right before your birthday.

When this misfortune happens to a WakeMed patient, our WakeMed care teams are ready and willing to make it a hospital stay to remember.

How a Love Story Began

On July 22, 2021, Sharon Miranyi married the love of her life, Matthew Duty. They’d met back in 2017 while she was in school, soon fell in love and then were separated by country status. Sharon was from Kenya and Matthew was an American. Yet, they kept their love alive and in June 2021, they were granted a 90-day-fiancé visa and married in a sweet courthouse wedding.

Sharon loves her life in America, but she misses her mother and father who live in Kenya. The separation by so many miles and time zones has made it tough to keep in touch.

A Fateful Accident Just Nine Months Later

On March 25, 2022 around 4:00 p.m., 24-year-old Sharon and her husband Matthew were involved in a vehicle collision. They were t-boned on the passenger side where Sharon was sitting. She took the full force of the impact.

Sharon says, “The accident happened one minute from Matthew’s parents’ house. We were headed over for dinner and drinks. It was horrible for family and friends to see and hear me screaming, ‘I don’t want to die. Help me. Help me.’ They all came running.”

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrived quickly and assessed the passengers in both vehicles.

Sharon recalls, “There were four people in the other car. The two in front did not have on seatbelts at the time, crashed their heads against the windshield and were bleeding profusely.

“The emergency medical technicians looked in on me, but I had no visible lacerations. The two in the front seat, however, were covered in blood, so they took care of them first.

“Then, when they got to me and tried to lift me out, I began screaming until I went into shock. They lifted me into the ambulance and gave me pain medication to control my pain. They also cut me out of my clothes.”

Sharon teases, “I was aware they were cutting me out of my brand new clothes. I really wanted them not to ruin my clothes, but they said they had to. Then, at the hospital, they gave them back to me. I finally threw them away the other day.”

Thankfully, her in-laws lived just minutes from WakeMed Raleigh Campus in the Evergreen subdivision in South Raleigh. EMS whisked her away to the Raleigh Campus Emergency Department.

Upon arrival, the Imaging team took her back for x-rays and CT scans to her pelvis, femur, chest, spine, head and right side.

The Level 1 Trauma Center team determined that she’d suffered multiple fractures to her pelvis, ribs and more.

On March 27, Sharon’s surgeries to repair fractures and internal lacerations were performed by Dr. Sarat Ganga and Dr. Pascal Udekwu and their teams.

A Hospital Birthday to Remember

On April 6, while in the Rehab Hospital, Sharon celebrated her 25th birthday.

“WakeMed, my husband and family made my 25th birthday one of the best of my life,” Sharon gushes.

It all started the day prior to her birthday when her nurse called the cafeteria manager to request a special birthday meal of exactly Sharon’s choosing.

“All the nurses were fun. I loved everyone I got.”

They also worked with her family to host a birthday party in the hospital cafeteria.

“My husband had a Kenyan passion cake custom made for me. It was the best cake I’ve ever had. My mother-in-law, brother-in-law, family and friends came to support me. On the day of my birthday, the nurses wheeled me to the cafeteria where I was greeted by my family in an area beautifully decorated with tons of flowers and a happy birthday banner. My mother-in-law also crowned me with a tiara and placed a sash around me.”

What’s more, Sharon’s family flew in from all over the country for her special day.

“This whole accident has helped me realize the importance of family. After the accident, my parents reached out to all our relatives living in the USA, and they flew in to be with me during my recovery. I was seeing relatives I’d never met before, and they kept telling me that they were there on behalf of my parents as my stand-in parents.”

The WakeMed Kenyan nurses also found out that Sharon had permanently immigrated to the United States just months prior and was missing her parents.

“Elizabeth, a Kenyan nurse, called all the Kenyan nurses on the floor, and they all came to see me. They brightened my experience and gave me a sense of being back in my home country.”

Sweet Gifts and a Release to Go Home

Sharon was discharged to go home on April 8 which, for her, made it the best birthday gift. She worked hard to recover and prove to her family that she was making progress.

WakeMed Rehabilitation Hospital care teams commemorated the occasion by gifting Sharon with a shirt that said, “My Independence Day.” They also gave her a grabber, a reacher, a leg lifter, a toilet cover, a walker and a wheelchair to make her continued recovery at home possible. Sharon was thrilled!

“The best gift was leaving the hospital well.”

Her mother-in-law also gifted her with multiple pillows.

“I’d been complaining of unrelenting pain and discomfort. My mother-in-law bought me six different pillows of every design to help me feel more comfortable. I have a wedge pillow, hand pillow, wheelchair pillow and more. Upon my arrival home, she peppered my garden with flowers and cleaned my house. We’ve grown closer because she realized my mom couldn’t be with me, so she’s taken up the slack.”

Sharon’s Ongoing Recovery and Plans for the Future

Sharon continues to recover at home. Sometimes she worries that a pain here or there is a sign of a larger problem, but her providers have assured her that she is recovering nicely, and they expect a full recovery.

The week prior to the accident, Sharon had enrolled in the nursing assistant program at WakeTech, but she had to withdraw when she had the accident. Amazingly, the care she received at WakeMed has made her even more determined to finish her degree and go into nursing.

She says, “I’m going back to school once I’m well, and after I graduate, I am going to apply to become a WakeMed nurse.”

7 Tips for a Momentous Hospital Birthday

If your loved one ends up celebrating a birthday in the hospital, there are ways to make it a joyous occasion. We can help. At WakeMed, we care deeply about the well-being of our patients, and we are committed to helping you navigate ways to make a hospital birthday a happy birthday.

Here are a few ideas:

• Let there be Cake! Make it a special one. There are decorated cakes, gluten-free cakes, vegan cakes, sugar fondant cakes and more. Within the confines of your loved one’s dietary needs, there are ways to spice up the day with a cake.
• Circulate a birthday card and have it signed by loved ones and the care team.
• Visit your loved one in person or through digital devices.
• Decorate with birthday banners, flowers and balloons.
• Determine if a special birthday meal can be authorized.
• Give meaningful presents.
• Sing “happy birthday” along with the care team.
• Give your loved one festive attire, such as a birthday crown and then stroll him or her around in a wheelchair as a little birthday outing (if feasible).

About the WakeMed Trauma Program

From pre-hospital and emergency care to surgery, intensive care and rehabilitation, WakeMed’s Trauma program features a network of care and specialists who are dedicated to preserving life and getting patients on the road to recovery. A continuum of services support trauma patients, starting with EMS and our trauma surgeons to spiritual care, imaging, lab, neurosurgeons, orthopaedists, rehab specialists and more.

WakeMed Trauma Centers

As Wake County’s only provider of trauma services and a regional trauma referral center, our two trauma centers — a Level I Trauma Center at Raleigh Campus and a Level III Trauma Center at Cary Hospital — and the WakeMed Trauma teams are standing ready to provide immediate care for the seriously injured.

WakeMed Rehabilitation Hospital

The WakeMed Rehabilitation Hospital is a 103-bed, nationally accredited rehabilitation hospital in Raleigh, NC with the largest number of rehab beds under one roof than any other rehab hospital in the entire state. WakeMed Rehabilitation offers a full continuum of physical rehabilitation services from the acute care setting (including a neuro care unit), through inpatient rehab in our CARF-accredited rehabilitation hospital, intensive day treatment, home health, outpatient rehabilitation and social programs. We offer specialty rehab programming for spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, amputee and pediatric patients. Our team consists of highly experienced therapists who specialize in treating the most complex patients. With the positive support of our team of physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, neuropsychologists, nurses, case managers and physicians, our patients work hard to achieve the best possible outcomes and return to their lives.