Trey Byrd has always loved working with his hands. Having grown up on a farm, he’s never been afraid of hands-on, hard work. Fast forward to his high school graduation, Trey was ready to find a career path that would offer him fulfillment and a chance to be out and about and up and moving. He decided to try firefighting.

“I became a firefighter because my friends were doing it after high school and said it was a blast, so I joined, loved it and decided to make a career out of it. I started out part-time with the Clayton Fire Department. I became a career firefighter in 2011 with the town of Zebulon. I was then offered a position with the Cary Fire Department. I have been there since 2015.”

Trey loves the intrinsic rewards of fighting fires since his work results in saved lives. He also loves the adrenaline rush: working on an emergency response team, riding the firetruck, putting out fires, finding and rescuing occupants of burning buildings and offering support in emergency situations. Yet, as the years past, he realized he missed farming and with his full-time firefighter career requiring 10 24-hour-days a month, he felt he had the time and passion to launch a second career.

Trey says, “I started helping my buddy, Ryan, with his farm in 2019 on my days off from the firetruck. Farming has been in my blood since I was a child. I was ready to get back to it. “

Trey and Ryan began working together to manage a revenue-generating farm located in Knightdale, growing soybeans, grains and corn. All was going well until about a year into it when Trey found himself in need of search and rescue emergency medical services.

From Emergency Responder to Resident in Need of Rescue

On November 24, 2020 around 9:00 a.m., Trey was working on the farm operating a corn snapper to bag and sell corn. The machine jammed, so Trey hopped off of the machine and left it running as he’d done many times before. With his right arm — his dominant arm — he reached into the machine to unjam it.

Trey says, “I had a pair of gloves on that were a little bit too big. They snagged and the rollers pulled my arm halfway up into the machine. It was a cold day, and I was wearing a heavy sweatshirt and coat which then jammed it again. This was a blessing.”

For about the first five minutes, Trey stood frozen. He felt helpless. Then he realized he could access his phone since it was tucked into his coat pocket.

Trey says, “I called my buddy Ryan and told him I was stuck. He was two miles away on a tractor and started heading my way. He called a friend of his at the nearby fire station, about two miles away and explained what had happened.”

Emergency services moved into action. Firefighters from the Knightdale fire station brought heavy-duty, high-powered rescue equipment to extricate Trey, and by way of a call to 911, an ambulance was also deployed en route. However, since Trey was in a corn field, the firetruck could not navigate to his exact location. They offloaded their rescue equipment onto pickup trucks within 25 minutes, moving as speedily as possible. Once they arrived on scene, they used hydraulic tools to cut metal and rollers and pull Trey’s arm out. This took an additional 15 to 20 minutes.

Trey says, “I was awake the entire time and was panicked inside, but I kept a calm demeanor on the outside because I’d been on the side of cutting people out of vehicles and knew I had to remain calm, so they could get me out as quickly as possible. Once they got me out, I walked to the ambulance. I sat on the stretcher, and we sped off to WakeMed Raleigh Campus Emergency Department while my friend, Ryan, called my wife to meet us at the hospital.”

Once Trey was in the ambulance, he felt a surge of extreme pain and was administered pain and nausea medication, but while he’d stood helplessly waiting for extrication, the only pain he felt was for his family.

Trey says, “All that was on my mind was my wife and three kids. I kept thinking, ‘If I lose my arm, how am I going to provide for my family?’ It was basically a fight or flight situation. I kept thinking ‘I have to get through this.’ I had a wife, two girls and a little boy, just 13, four and two at the time.”

Arrival to WakeMed Raleigh Campus Emergency Department

At about 10:00 a.m., the ambulance arrived at the Raleigh Campus Emergency Department, and WakeMed’s Level 1 Trauma Center team took over. While Trey was not bleeding very much, his arm was mangled with muscle visibly protruding. Imaging diagnostics showed that he had numerous torn ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves, though no broken bones.

That evening at around 5:00 p.m., Okechukwu Nwoko, MD, a Wake Orthopaedics surgeon specializing in hand and microvascular surgery, began the procedure to repair Trey’s arm. The highly extensive surgery was about two hours long involving intricate work to stitch up severe damage.

Dr. Nwoko says, “When I saw him before and during surgery, he had somewhat of a crushing injury to his forearm with extruded  nerves and muscles (some detached from the tendon). I ended up repairing the tendons-muscles present and the nerves innervating his hand as well as the tissue using artificial skin (Integra-made of bovine collagen).”

Trey says, “Dr. Nwoko is a superstar!”

After surgery, Trey was sent to a recovery room where he remained for two days. He went home to his wife and children on Thanksgiving day, November 26, around 4:00 p.m.

The Long Road to Full Recovery

Trey had two scheduled visits in December 2020 with Dr. Nwoko. Initially after his procedure, Dr. Nwoko had Trey’s arm placed in a splint (half cast), and within weeks, he was able to transition to a removable splint, so he could shower. However, Trey had a setback. In late December, he contracted an infection in his arm and was put on antibiotics for two weeks. Finally, in January 2021, Dr. Nwoko was able to remove Trey’s stitches and order therapy to restore his ability to use his arm.

Dr. Nwoko says, “At that point, it became a lot of therapy. Then also on June 29, 2021 at WakeMed Raleigh Medical Park in the Capital City Surgery Center, Trey was taken back to surgery to remove unhealthy scars and tendon transfers to redistribute lost power to the thumb and forearm from other tendons after he had healed.”

Trey says, “I was in therapy two days a week from January 2021 to October 2021 at an outpatient physical therapy facility in Garner. My therapist was very patient with me. I am very headstrong, so I was frustrated when I couldn’t do stuff, and she helped me get through that.”

Trey was unable to work from November 24, 2020 to February 15, 2021. When he was finally given the all clear to return to light duty, he was thankful.

Treys says, “I went back to work on light duty at the fire administration doing desk work. It was a tough transition because I previously worked 10 days a month riding a firetruck. As an office worker, I was working from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. like a regular person, which I did not like, but I was grateful I could return to work and that I had a job.”

A Return to the Careers He Loves

Upon finishing his final physical therapy session, on October 15, 2021, Trey was authorized to return to the firetruck.

Trey says, “It was the greatest thing ever! I could get back to my life. I also started back farming at the same time! And recently, my buddy and I set aside about four acres to grow produce to sell at the farmer’s market.”

Today, aside from a decline in grip strength which is getting better and better, Trey is back to 100% with no limitations. He can do everything he could do before the accident.

In reflecting on this harrowing and life-changing time, Trey is grateful for firefighters and medical staff who work with emergency medical services. He is grateful to Dr. Nwoko and team as well as his physical therapist who helped restore his arm, but most importantly, he is grateful to his wife.

Trey says, “I couldn’t have gotten better without her. She was a rockstar taking care of me, making sure my bandages were changed and administering my medications. She is a teacher, but she continued to work remotely after the return to in-person school for a little while to make sure I got what I needed.”

WakeMed Trauma Centers

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.

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.

Wake Orthopaedics