Discover Hope

Kourtney's Story: Top-Notch Care

Jan. 19, 2018

Kourtney Hurst had barely come down from the high of her October 2016 wedding when a tragic accident robbed her of all memories of the event.


Hurst hit black ice while driving to work the morning of Jan. 11, 2017. When she awoke at UC Medical Center days later, she learned just how severe her injuries were.

Hurst had brain surgery for a subdural hematoma and had a broken neck and clavicle, a leg fracture, multiple facial fractures, punctured lungs and dissected carotid arteries.

Active, hard-working and an avid hunter and fisher, Hurst was now faced with learning to walk and eat again. She’d also have to learn how to function with a brain injury, which can cause personality and eating disorders.

“My nurses and physicians at UC Health were phenomenal.”

Six months after the accident that nearly took her life, Hurst went back to work full time, and a year later, she returned to UC Medical Center to thank the staff and clinicians who saved her life.

She and her husband, Brandon, are now expecting their first child.

“Since my accident, I’ve really learned the value and importance of life, and understand that we are blessed to wake up every morning,” Hurst said.