National Trauma Survivors Day honors overcomers who may still be on the path to recovery

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — National Trauma Survivors Day, a day marked as one of celebration and full of inspiration drew in people from all walks of life on Wednesday, May 15.

The day focuses on survivors who can draw strength and motivation from and even give support to other trauma survivors walking a similar path toward recovery.

Several trauma survivors shared their remarkable stories at a celebration in the Kraus Auditorium at Chippenham Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

Survivors from all types of traumatic experiences shared their moving testimony today about how what they experienced affected them and how they continuously moving forward on the enduring path to recovery.

“Going through something like this is never easy, like I wouldn’t have a mom today and that’s something that I can’t even speak on,” said one survivor. “When you wake up God got a plan for you so i can’t let this hod me back. Always continue to have a plan. And just thank you to everybody,” said another survivor.

Many survivors outlined their frightful experiences, loved ones sharing the impact those experiences had on them and doctors who watched it all unfold were all reunited again.

Chippenham Hospital recently joined the Trauma Survivors Network, which was developed in 2008 by the American Trauma Society and helps trauma centers provide the support an services patients and their families need during recovery.

“No one plans on coming to the hospital. No one says what should we do this afternoon. Everyone arrives here generally in some form of great terrific need or crisis in their life,” said Lance Jones, the Chippenham Hospital CEO.

Doctor Stanley Kurek is the Trauma Medical Director at Chippenham Hospital. He has been in the trauma field for 25 years, and over his four years at Chippenham Hospital, he says he has seen every type of trauma a person can think of.

“We see gunshot wounds, stab wounds, fall accidents, motorcycle accidents, car crashes, fires, pretty much everything you ever hear on the news. Those are our patients. We have one patient, and her chance of survival is actually like 0.003%. And she made it out of the hospital, went home. So that is what this makes the why this is such a special event,” Kurek said.

That woman was Zelda Cunningham in 2023 she ran off the road and hit a tree. She says what happened to her afterwards was unbelievable.

“I had internal bleeding,” Cunningham remembered. “My heart was ruptured. I had two holes in my heart. I had to have emergency surgery. I had to run it through me. I do know I died twice. I died in the ambulance, and I also died on the operating table. So I’m grateful to be alive and grateful. Its just still it’s unreal. I still just can’t believe that out of 100, only 2% and I’m one of the 2% that made it through the hospital.”

One survivor who was stabbed multiple times on his way to work shared his story of perseverance and says that his journey on the road to recovery is in God’s hands.

“I try to put it into Gods hand, but it eats me up. I was trying to go to work this morning and had a full-blown panic attack and even a year later it’s fresh in my mind,” he said.

To learn more about the Trauma Survivors Network, click here .

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