Tragedy to Triumph

By Carol McPhail
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This story was originally featured in the Spring 2025 edition of the USA Health magazine.

What began as a short run to test a new fuel filter in his boat ended in a traumatic, life-threatening accident for a father and son in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Steve Hysell and his son Addison, 20, had jumped into the 24-foot center console boat on a Sunday morning in June 2023. They had planned to take it for a quick spin before returning to the dock near his house to grab an inflatable tube and a cooler and head out for a morning on the water.

As they made a wide circle at the I-10 bridge to start back home, Hysell saw a bass boat speeding toward them. He also noticed pilings in the water nearby and corrected his heading to avoid them.

Unfortunately, the smaller boat maneuvered in the same direction.

Within seconds, the bass boat smashed into the starboard side of Hysell’s boat, leaping over the hull and breaking off the center console. Addison was hit and thrown overboard, and Hysell was pinned between the broken console and the seat.

“I remember calling out Addison’s name and realizing he’s in the water and his legs are cut really bad, and he’s in a panic,” said Hysell, a Citronelle native who had spent six years in the U.S. Navy as a search-and-rescue swimmer. “All I could do was get my shirt off and roll it up and throw it to him and pull him to the side of the boat.”

From a nearby house, another father and son had witnessed the accident. They quickly arrived by boat to ferry the injured to their dock, called for an ambulance, and administered tourniquets to Addison’s legs. When the first responders arrived, they saw that Hysell was doubled over and starting to show signs of jaundice. That indicated injuries to his liver and pancreas.

“They said, ‘Hey, y’all have to get another ambulance over here quick,’” Hysell recalled.

He and Addison were taken to separate local hospitals. It became clear, though, that they required more specialized care. The two were life-flighted to USA Health University Hospital, home to the region’s only Level I trauma center.

When Hysell arrived at the emergency department, he was already intubated and on a ventilator. He also had a temporary closure device affixed to his abdomen from where surgeons had performed the initial surgery to stop the bleeding and stem the spillage of intestinal contents into his abdominal cavity.

Upon further evaluation, the trauma team at University Hospital found that in addition to his abdominal injuries, Hysell had sustained multiple left-sided rib fractures and a stable lumbar spine puncture. He was treated for shock, admitted to the trauma ICU and scheduled for surgery the following day.

“In these cases, a trauma team, hepatobiliary surgeon, surgical ICU team, hospital dietitian, wound care team, and inpatient rehab team are all essential to provide the care needed for this complex patient,” said Nathan Polite, D.O., the trauma surgeon on duty when Hysell arrived. “This compilation of resources is often limited to a Level I trauma center.”

The next day, fellow trauma surgeon Ashley Williams Hogue, M.D., performed Hysell’s first operation at USA Health. “He had several very complex injuries affecting several organs including his duodenum, pancreas and large intestine,” she said. “We fixed each issue, but understanding the difficulty of healing some of these injuries, we immediately placed a feeding tube past the major site of injury. This would allow us to feed him with minimal pressure on our repairs.”

Hysell remained in the ICU on life support to help him breathe and keep his blood pressure at a normal level. “It is very difficult for our bodies to heal after this level of injury, and despite giving him support and IV nutrition, he required additional surgeries and radiologic procedures to stabilize him,” Williams Hogue said. “We knew it would be a marathon and not a sprint.”

Weeks passed before Hysell was alert enough to ask questions and try to make sense of what had happened. He was told that doctors had had to surgically reconstruct his duodenum, the part of the small intestine that connects to the stomach.

He was also assured that his middle son was alive and recovering in the ICU. “For a long time, I thought he didn’t make it and that they just weren’t telling me because of the stress,” he said. “My oldest son was like, ‘Dad, he’s fine.’ And a few days later, they wheeled him over in a wheelchair.”

Addison was able to go home after five weeks, where he received home health care and physical therapy to regain his strength. Hysell, however, remained in the hospital for a total of three months. By fall, the exercise buff who had once weighed 225 pounds was down to 163 pounds.

“Mr. Hysell had very complex injuries that innately brought about a complicated course toward healing,” Williams Hogue said. “Despite the challenges, he beat the odds.”

This past fall, more than a year after the accident, Hysell returned to the hospital for an elective hernia repair, a procedure often needed in patients who have had multiple abdominal surgeries. It was performed by another USA Health trauma surgeon, Maryann Mbaka, M.D., MBA.

Today, Hysell is back at work as a maintenance and engineering manager for steel mill equipment at AM/NS Calvert in south Alabama.

He remains grateful for the doctors, nurses and other staff who cared for him, and now considers them family. “As a matter of fact, my mom turned 80 while I was in the ICU, and the staff threw her a birthday party,” he said. “On days when I was having a bad day, they knew it, and they knew what to say to make me feel better.”

Hysell expressed that gratitude when he shared his story before an audience of dozens of hospital supervisors and department heads at their monthly managers’ meeting. He also visits the ICU regularly, taking a platter of Chick-n-Minis or doughnuts for the day shift and barbecue or pizza for the night shift.

“When I come up and visit, it’s not a handshake and ‘How have you been?’ It’s hugs and tears and, ‘Man, we’re just so thankful,’” he said.