MINERAL CITY, Ohio — Each step that 17-year-old Brynn Goedel takes with help from a walker brings promise and positivity from the student.
She spent six weeks in two hospitals but came home to Mineral City just after Christmas.
The teen, who is a junior at Tusky Valley High School, is a survivor of the horrific chain-reaction crash that involved a charter bus and four other vehicles on a highway near Columbus last November.
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In an interview with News 5 from her home, Brynn said she feels blessed to be alive.
"God definitely was with me that day," she said. "I could have passed, you know what I mean? I think about that sometimes. I was right beside the people that did pass. Why did God choose me?"
Brynn, who plays the clarinet, was among dozens of marching band members on the charter bus on their way to perform at a conference when a semi hit first hit an SUV and then slammed into the back of the bus on I-70. Three other vehicles were also involved in the crash.
Investigators with the Ohio State Highway Patrol told the National Transportation Safety Board that the semi was following too closely and failed to slow down. No charges have been filed, but the accident remains under investigation.
Brynn was sitting near the back of the bus. She doesn't remember the impact, but recalls waking up to her ears ringing and the sounds of chaos.
"I'm like, what's happening? I heard people screaming. I just kept hearing fire and explosions, but I didn't smell smoke," she said.
The teen said she was thrown to the middle of the bus and unable to move on her own. However, within minutes, her guardian angel arrived— a stranger who ran onto the bus and found the teen through the smoke.
"I felt just a person just grab under my arms and take me out of the bus and I was like, 'Oh my goodness.' He was very, very strong," she said.
That hero turned out to be a semi-driver named Josh. He was not involved in the crash but pulled over to help. Josh visited Brynn in a Columbus hospital a few days later.
"When I met him in the hospital, he walked in and we both just started crying," Brynn said.
Brynn's mother, Danielle Goedel, is a nurse and was at work on the morning of the accident. She received a call from Brynn from a phone number she didn't recognize. The call was both terrifying and reassuring.
"She said, 'Mom, we got in a little accident. I just want you to know I can't feel my legs. I'm okay. The ambulance is coming. I just didn't want you to worry,'" Danielle Goedel said.
Brynn suffered a concussion, burns to her face and arms and multiple fractures to her ribs and pelvis.
"My sacrum, which is your tailbone, it split and it went up on my spinal cord," Brynn explained.
Initially, there was concern that Brynn would not be able to walk again, but she had four surgeries and is walking with the assistance of a cane or a walker, and sometimes— slowly but surely— without any assistance.
"Brynn always says, 'I just keep pushing. I just keep pushing. I just keep pushing for the ones that aren't with us today,'" Danielle Goedel said.
Six people were killed in the crash, three students on the bus and three adults in an SUV that was traveling behind the bus.
Brynn said Dave Kennat, 56, was a great math teacher. Kristy Gaynor, 39, and Shannon Wigfield, 45, were wonderful parent chaperones. John Mosley, 18, and Jeffery Worrell, 18, were funny and talented members of the band and Katelyn Owens, 15, was also in the band and Brynn's best friend.
"I'll miss her telling me stories about her day at school, things like that. I'll definitely miss all of them, but she was my best friend since kindergarten," Brynn said.
The teen who had a lot of physical therapy at Akron Children's Hospital said she still has a lot of work to do, but she's determined to stay positive with a goal of returning to the marching band to perform.
"I push myself so hard. I have to get back to walking because that's what people that passed and the survivors want me to do."
A benefit to help the Goedel family with medical and other expenses is scheduled for Feb. 3 at Tusky Valley Elementary School, located at 2637 Tusky Valley Road in Zoarville.
The event starts at 4 p.m. and will include dinner, auctions and a raffle. More information on the event can be found here.
