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A little over a year ago, junior Phil Granrud’s patience, courage and will were put to the test after a near-fatal accident on a four-wheeler.
On May 18, 1997, Granrud was at a friend of the family’s farm and was about to leave with his parents when he begged his mother to let him take a ride on their friends’ four-wheeler. He and another rider were returning from the excursion when they decided to split up. Granrud opted to take his four-wheeler on a gravel road. He began to feel dizzy and awoke to find himself in a ditch just off the gravel road, covered in mud and his own blood.
When Granrud came out of his daze he was lying next to a barbed-wire fence. Granrud was confused about what had taken place until he saw the immobile four-wheeler 50 feet away on the other side of the fence. His hip was searing with pain and he saw his right leg was bent from his hip behind him. He thought it was just dislocated, so he lifted it up and popped it back into place.
“I noticed a lot of blood around me,” said Granrud. “I didn’t know where it was from until I felt my face.”
With slightly less pain in his right hip, he waited for his friend to return.
“I’ve never seen anyone look so scared before,” said Granrud. “He thought I was dead.”
His friend went back to the farm and his family came to pick Granrud up in their van. After a 30-minute trip at Kalispell Regional Hospital, they arrived at the emergency room. They washed Granrud’s face and shoulder where most of the cuts were, and stitched up his face. Granrud told the doctor about the pain in his hip, but he and his family, thinking it was only a dislocation, decided against an X-ray. His parents took him home from the emergency room and carried him to a chair where he stayed for the next five days.
“It hurt so bad I didn’t sleep for two days,” said Granrud. “It was a nightmare. I was in so much pain.”
Still suffering from severe pain in his hip, Granrud attempted to walk on the fifth day. He took one step on his right leg when he heard and felt a snap. He collapsed to the floor and his parents once again rushed him to the emergency room. He was then X-rayed for the first time since the accident and the doctor informed him he had less than a 20 percent chance of walking again. Granrud received emergency surgery in which doctors put two pins in his thighbone that connected his hip joint.
“I just had to learn how to use crutches,” said Granrud. “I was worrying about finishing the school year because it was late May.”
Just two weeks after his surgery, Granrud returned to school in a wheelchair to finish his sophomore year.
“I should’ve waited,” said Granrud. “We didn’t know how serious it was.”
Granrud finished the school year in the summer while he waited for his hip to heal. He slowly built up more strength in his arms, using crutches to get around.
“I tried to live life the best I could while I waited for it to heal,” said Granrud. “I waited and waited.”
Granrud thought he was healing until he noticed more pain in October. His doctor in Kalispell reassured him that everything was going well, but he and his family went to Missoula for a second opinion. The doctor in Missoula told him they would have to redo the pins on his hip and have a second surgery.
“We decided to have another surgery,” said Granrud. “I’d have a second surgery in Missoula at St. Patrick’s Hospital.”
After removing the two existing pins, a chunk of bone was removed from his pelvis that was graded and placed around the fracture sight. Four screws were placed around the joint for extra compression. After three days in the hospital, the Granrud family drove back home in Kalispell where all they could do was wait.
In February, they traveled to Missoula for a checkup and the doctor told the Granruds everything looked great and there was healing around the fracture. In March, Granrud started to have muscle spasms in his left leg from over use. Wanting to prevent further injury, he decided to take a break from school.
Finally, on April 8, the Granruds returned to Missoula, where the doctor told Granrud his hip was completely healed and he could put weight on it. He currently does exercises and physical therapy to build up muscle in his leg. Granrud had been doing his schoolwork at home, but recently has returned to school for half days.
“He’s a pretty strong guy for pulling through,” said junior Chris Burtch. “Eventually he’s going to ski again because he’s got the willpower and believes he can.”
Granrud has been an inspiration for those around him, such as the FHS nurse, Margie Cook. “I think he’s amazing. Tenacious. Courageous. Perservering,” said Cook. “He’s just got to be careful even though he’s finally healed.”
Granrud has gained a new perspective on what it’s like for people that have to live in a wheelchair — or are in worse predicaments — everyday. Granrud feels especially fortunate the barbed wire that cut around his collar did not was not two inches higher on his throat.
“I feel like I’ve been given a second chance in life now,” said Granrud. “It’s weird having to learn to walk again for the second time.”
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