Local boy making a miraculous recovery

Andrews One year ago, an active 3-year-old boy wrapped his little arms around a coat rack carved out of a log, lost his footing and fell backward onto his hardwood living room floor.

The coat rack, which weighed nearly 100 pounds, crashed down onto the boy’s skull, knocking Dallas Wilson unconscious. His father, Darren Wilson, who was just feet away from him, quickly knelt over him. His mother, Ami Wilson, called 911 immediately, while Darren began to pray for God to intervene for his son.

Initially, Ami said she thought their son was fine.

“It looked like he was going to get up,” she remembers, “but his eyes were still closed.”

‘Prepare for the worst’

They called for help, including Ami’s longtime employer and friend, Dr. Kathryn Wagner, who agreed to meet them at the

hospital. It wasn’t until Ami put her arm under Dallas’ neck to pick him up that she saw the blood flowing out of his right ear.

She knew enough to not move him any further until the medics arrived. Those minutes, standing over their unresponsive son, “were the scariest time” throughout the whole ordeal, Ami said.

The next three months were a blur of actions happening very fast, like Dallas’ four-hour surgery, when his parents were told to “prepare for the worst.” But at the same time, things moved in sluggish, slow motion.

For 14 days, the Wilsons sat at their child’s bedside in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., praying for their child to regain consciousness. They felt isolated due to COVID-19 restrictions prohibiting their family – including Ami’s 14-year-old son, Christian – to stand vigil with them. The family, then later the whole community, felt helpless as this little intubated, redheaded child breathed in and out with no cognitive awareness.

Thumbs up a start

However, on day 15, things changed in a dramatic way when Dallas started responding to doctor’s commands. Later, he responded to his parents with a thumbs-up sign, which is something his father taught him when he was only 1 year old and held great importance to them. The Wilsons exhaled in astonished gratitude.

Dallas would remain in hospitals for a total of 48 days due to his injuries, including a fractured skull, multiple hemorrhages in his brain and right-side paralysis to such a degree that he was unable to speak or swallow.

However, in all the jumble of injuries and scary procedures, there was that thumbs up, a gesture that came to represent hope to the family – and to the larger community, who watched Dallas’ progress from afar, sending donations, letters and, according to Ami, “more dinosaurs than I can even count.”

From Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital in Peachtree, Dallas was sent to T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga – which is now Erlanger Children’s Hospital – where he stayed before graduating to Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte for in-patient rehab. Bit by bit, Dallas regained his ability to swallow, speak and even to walk. His mother’s goal “was for him to walk out of that hospital,” and she got her wish.

One year later

The family celebrates his one-year recovery Thursday, reflecting on the challenging journey they traveled to get here. Dallas has few remaining medical issues.

From their vantage point, remembering their child when he was connected to machines with tubes compared to the playful, willful boy he is today, those past tremors hardly define who Dallas has become. He functions like a normal 4-year-old boy today.

Dallas still does occupational and physical therapy two days a week in Cherokee County. He was the first patient at Carolina Therapy Services.

Both Wilsons feel guilty about the incident, running it over through their heads of what they could have done differently, how they could have protected him from such egregious harm. In the early days, while they remained in the PICU, Darren’s brother and uncle came to their house to remove the coat rack.

“I don’t know where it’s at, and I don’t want to know,” Ami said. The incident also influenced the way they parent. “We are always close by, always watching.”

They discourage things like climbing, although Dallas is feisty, active and doesn’t seem afraid of anything. Except for nose swabs.

“He had so many nose swabs while we were in the hospital, he doesn’t want anything to do with them,” Ami said with a laugh.

‘An amazing, smart kid’

Dallas’ recovery is remarkable, even by medical standards; the neurosurgeon was thrilled at his nearly full recovery from such a traumatic brain event. Ami said Dallas, now 4, “ is an amazing smart, brilliant kid.”

Both parents attribute his recovery to Dallas’ courage and their faith in God, but they still worry over bumps and bruises. Their son still plays with his collection of dinosaurs, but has expanded his interests to include all things Spider-man.

Dallas remains oblivious to his miraculous recovery, although Ami said he is having more memories of his time in the hospital. For Ami, Dallas’ injury shifted her world view.

“Before his accident, it was hard to have faith in the human race; people were so angry,” she said.

Yet, during the darkest months of Ami’s life, praying over a son who looked so tiny in a bed where she remained helpless to heal him, she said the support they received from the community showed her that “people are still good; there are good hearts in the world.”

The Wilsons said they are “very thankful for every call, text and card we received, as well as every kind word and gesture toward our family. We’re equally grateful for every donation, no matter the amount. We can never repay all of your kindness.”