Christmas Miracle Comes True For Oklahoma Teen

A 17-year-old Drummond High School student, who was critically injured in a two-vehicle accident on Halloween in Garfield County, was free to go home Tuesday from Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital.  

William Wallace was the front seat passenger in a sedan being driven by a classmate a few miles west of Waukomis, when Wallace’s mother Tiffany said a Dodge Ram pickup truck failed to yield.  

William took the brunt of the collision. His mother said he suffered 43 broken bones, as well as serious head and face lacerations.  

William went through 18 hours of emergency surgery at OU Medical Center, and has been rehabbing and relearning how to walk at Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital.  

“I want to have a normal teenage life, and the only way to do that is to keep on fighting,” he said Monday while sitting on his bed.  

Incredibly, William’s father Richard is a volunteer Lahoma firefighter. He and his wife Tiffany coincidentally were one of the first responders who rushed to the crash scene that day.

“And I just prayed and talked to God, just talked to God non-stop,”  William said.

He said he doesn’t blame the classmate who was driving back on Halloween, “because it wasn’t her fault.”  

He also said he’s very thankful for all of the prayers, and for his younger sister who he said has been a strong force in getting him through some dark days.

“I don’t know what I would do without her,” he said. “She is one of the greatest sisters I could ever ask for. Don’t tell her that though.”  

The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital neurodevelopmental pediatrician Dr. Steven Couch said Wallace’s quick recovery has been remarkable.  

Wallace, who turned 17 in the hospital on November 18, said he aspires to be a orthopedic surgeon one day.