{"id":82198,"date":"2025-05-19T10:15:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=82198"},"modified":"2025-12-22T09:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:04:09","slug":"young-army-soldier-survives-catastrophic-motorcycle-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/young-army-soldier-survives-catastrophic-motorcycle-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Greeley teen and Army soldier survives catastrophic motorcycle crash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Jordan
Jordan Kirkpatrick survived a horrific motorcycle crash and credits his survival and recovery to his family, faith and fitness from serving in the military. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Kirkpatrick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As 18-year-old Jordan Kirkpatrick was about to take his day-old motorcycle on its maiden voyage, his mom admonished him about the purchase and made him promise he would be careful.<\/p>\n

It would be the last time he would be able to speak to her, or anyone in his family, for a couple of grueling months.<\/p>\n

\"Jordan
Jordan, left, with his stepdad, Jeff Jackson. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Kirkpatrick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just a few hours after he left his Greeley home last September as he was heading down a main drag in town, an oncoming car made a left turn on a light at an intersection just as Jordan approached it.<\/p>\n

The two collided with a terrible impact.<\/p>\n

\"Jordan
Jordan stood up for one of the first times after a devastating motorcycle crash. With him are his sister, Alyssa Barraza, left, and his mom, Rebecca Kirkpatrick, right. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Kirkpatrick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jordan was involved in a motorcycle crash so deadly that physicians didn\u2019t think he would survive. He would have to be resuscitated more than once and receive countless transfusions.<\/p>\n

Jordan\u2019s injuries were so extensive that he would be in an induced coma for weeks. He would also be placed on an advanced form of life support where his blood was taken from his body and passed through a machine that added oxygen before being returned. And his shattered bones and internal organ damage would take months to heal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWords cannot describe how bad it was,\u201d said Rebecca, Jordan\u2019s mom. \u201cSome of the doctors thought he might never wake up, or if he did, that he would be in a vegetative state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The horrible extent of her son\u2019s injuries was not lost on Rebecca, a nurse, nor on two of her daughters \u2013 Jordan\u2019s sisters, who are also nurses. The entire family, including two other sisters as well as his dad, stepdad, friends and Army buddies, kept vigil at Jordan\u2019s bedside as his care team strategized on how to increase his survival odds.<\/p>\n

Altogether, Jordan received care for 108 days at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a> on the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>. After his discharge, he spent nearly three more months at a rehab hospital for physical, occupational and speech therapy before finally going home to Greeley in late March.<\/p>\n

\"After
After a motorcycle crash, Jordan spent months in the hospital recovering. Here, Jordan gives a thumbs-up with his sister, Alyssa, at his side. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Kirkpatrick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDuring the first few days after the accident, his chances appeared quite low and that if he did survive, even lower that he was going to have good function since the extent of his injuries were so severe,\u201d said Dr. Steven Schauer,<\/a> critical care fellow in the UCHealth Shock-Trauma Intensive Care Unit<\/a>, who is also an Army lieutenant colonel and a military fellow at the CU Center for COMBAT Research.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut a big factor in his recovery was his mom and stepdad being there every single day, asking questions and advocating for him. Even when Jordan had setbacks, they didn\u2019t get frustrated, at least not visually, and they were always there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan graduates early from high school to join the Army, but a horrific motorcycle crash cuts short his soldiering<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Just 16 when he graduated early from high school in the spring 2023, Jordan turned 17 a few months later and joined the Army<\/a> that September. He spent 22 weeks in infantry training at Georgia\u2019s Fort Benning<\/a>, heading back to Colorado in March 2024, where he was stationed at Fort Carson<\/a> in Colorado Springs last spring and summer.<\/p>\n

\"Jordan
Jordan graduated from high school early to join the Army when he was just 17. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Kirkpatrick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI liked being there. It was close, I could come home on weekends, and I got really physically fit,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n

Last Sept. 21, Jordan was home for the weekend when he traded in his old motorcycle for a new one. He had always liked things with wheels \u2013 cars and dirt bikes \u2013 and was ready to take it out for a ride the next day, a Sunday, while his high school buddies videotaped him from an adjacent car.<\/p>\n

The video that his friends took show a terrifying scene \u2013 Jordan hitting the car head on and him flying through the air, pieces of the motorcycle scattering through the sky like yard debris in a windstorm. He was wearing a helmet, which saved his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember the accident at all,\u201d he said. \u201cI know I was in shock. My friends told me I was trying to stand up, but they pushed me down to wait for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crash occurred across the street from a UCHealth freestanding Emergency Room<\/a>. Jordan\u2019s friends alerted the paramedics, who were parked next to the ER, and they resuscitated him as he was near death. He was then transported to the nearby UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies<\/a> in Loveland.<\/p>\n

After getting a frantic call from Jordan\u2019s friends, Rebecca and her husband raced first to the crash site and then to the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was in shock,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI jumped into the car without my shoes. But it was hours before we knew anything or how badly he was hurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first saw him \u2026 it was horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barely alive, Jordan needed 30 units of blood as a result of his internal bleeding. Emergency specialists knew that his injuries necessitated treatment at a Level 1 Trauma Center<\/a> that could provide the highly sophisticated standard of care he would need to not only save his life, but to handle his complex and severe injuries in the coming weeks and months.<\/p>\n

Injuries from motorcycle crash required air transfer to save life<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The next day, Jordan was transferred by air to University of Colorado in Aurora. When he arrived that afternoon, his injuries included:<\/p>\n