By Kennedi Wilson
One minute you’re fine, the next CRASH … your car rattles off a telephone pole and a tree. The ambulance blares, you fade in and out of consciousness.
For 25-year-old Wyatt Donham, this is the start of what happened after he met with his mother, Rhonda Donham, athletic administrative assistant, for dinner.
Part I. The Accident
On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, Donham’s son had a life changing crash following dinner when his golf tee time was rained out. Doctors don’t know if he hydroplaned or if he had a medical emergency (stroke) that caused the crash.
Wyatt was taken to Reid Health hospital in Richmond. From there he was transported by a Lifeline helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.
When he got to Reid, doctors told Donham her son wasn’t responsive. His pupils weren’t dilating and he had swelling on the brain.
Surgery wasn’t an option until he had some sort of response. It took hours before Donham had any information from the doctors.
“I realized then, at that point in time, that, oh my gosh he might not make it,” Donham said.
From there doctors were able to do surgery to get the swelling down. They had to remove a piece of his skull to relieve the pressure on the brain.
When recovering Wyatt had to be placed on life support. He had blood clots in his head that caused a stroke at some point during the accident.
There was fluid around his brain. Doctors had to drain it by putting a shunt in, then placing a bone flap (piece of the skull) back after removing the real bone.
Now, 11 months after the accident, Wyatt remains nonverbal and is slowly coming out of a minimally conscious state.
“This is almost like being in a coma but not in a coma,” Donham said.
For Wyatt, his processing time is delayed, but he can still move all extremities when he wants to.
The biggest struggle for Donham during this has not only been insurance but also the fact that Wyatt is nonverbal.
“It’s the non-communication part that is really hard, ’cause I haven’t heard my kid talk …. I haven’t heard him laugh,” she said.
Donham has three children, Wyatt being the youngest at 25 years old. His older siblings have helped her throughout this process by being supportive.
She has a caregiver for Wyatt. The caregiver is there from the time Donham goes to work to the time she gets home. Donham doesn’t leave the house unless it’s to go to work or to take Wyatt to an appointment.
This past year, Wyatt’s friends put together two golf outings to help Donham raise money to take care of him. His best friend’s mom is also an occupational therapist and helps with Wyatt. She goes to their house twice a week to help Donham with the activities she can’t get Wyatt to do by herself.
Before the accident Wyatt “laughed a lot, smiled a lot, loved to hunt, started learning how to play golf, and enjoyed being with his friends. He was full of life.”
He worked in construction so the day of the accident he and his friends had been rained out at their work site. They decided to play golf in Winchester, where they also got rained out, so Wyatt called his mom to ask her where she was: the A&B Cafe. When they got to the cafe, Wyatt told Donham that his phone was dead but that he was going home.
Shortly afterward, when Donham heard the sirens, she texted Wyatt but didn’t get a response. She waited a few minutes then texted him again but still no response. A few minutes later she got a call saying Wyatt had been in an accident.
While he was in the hospital, Donham never left him. The only times she wasn’t with him were when her daughter was giving birth and when Wyatt had surgery and was in intensive care. Donham even followed the transport people from the Dayton hospital to the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (RHI) in Indianapolis on June 7.
From June 7 to September 27, 2025, Donham stayed by Wyatt’s side until he got discharged from RHI.
Part II. Moving Forward
Donham has been administrative assistant in the athletic office for five years, coming first to help former AD Tilmon Clark. She now works with current AD Lynde Bratton helping her schedule transportation, hire officials, contract games, supervise home events, and many other secretarial duties.
“Everybody was very gracious to let me do the job from the computer, from there, which helped me kind of still have a life,” Donham said. “I was thankful to be with Wyatt every day but be able to do work and kind of have my mind on something else, too.”
Donham used to be an even busier person. She was always helping out at Hickory Hills Golf Course, which her fiance (Curt Puckett) owns, putting on outings, planting flowers, or setting up for the day.
When it came to her job, she was always supervising athletic events. Since the accident, Donham is no longer able to attend those events.
From the hospital, she was able to help get officials for games, schedule games, and do rosters. Prior to the accident, Donham never had free time. Once the accident happened, she realized family was more important.
While Donham was out Lynde Bratton was coming into her new role at Delta. With her becoming the new athletic director, Donham had to help make sure Bratton knew what she was doing.
“It was hard at first, because I didn’t know what I was doing in this role yet, but as soon as I got this, she started reaching out, and she and I communicated all summer, and she kept me informed, and we just worked through email and text, and I didn’t know any different,” Bratton said. “Now, with her back in the office, it’s amazing. She made (work) just as much of a priority as when she was at the hospital. So she definitely put us first.”
Since Donham has come back to work she continues to show up and keep a good mood throughout the day. She is “full of positive energy and that feeds off on the people around her,” Bratton said.
Part III. Building Awareness
For Wyatt, he had a traumatic brain injury (TBI). They can range from mild to severe like Wyatt’s injury.
The accident has caused the left side of Wyatt’s brain to not function the correct way. It also affects a little bit of his motor skills. He can’t form words the way he was able to before the accident so now he has to relearn how to talk through speech therapy.
“I knew nothing about brain injuries or how many people suffer brain injuries until it happened to Wyatt,” Donham said. “The statistics of how many people suffer brain injuries is just mind blowing.”
Knowing about TBI can help people in different ways. Finding facilities and therapists that have people who specialize in the different parts of the brain has been hard for Donham.
“There are not enough facilities out there that can focus on brain injuries. Because the brain is a very complex part of your body, it controls everything, it’s different from an injury to your leg, where you go get rehab to your leg,” Donham said. ”There’s just so many parts of the brain, and I don’t think there’s enough facilities, probably not enough therapists that are trained just for that.”
For Wyatt, his recovery can take two or more years.
For more information about TBI’s, visit: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/traumatic-brain-injury-tbi
