A golf cart wreck nearly took his life. Now he intends to help others with brain injuries.
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Nearly a year after a golf course accident left 20-year-old Collin Long with a fractured skull and a brain injury doctors expected would change his life forever, his family is turning the anniversary into a celebration rather than a reminder of tragedy.
On July 20, the Auburn University Club golf course will host a benefit tournament in honor of Long’s recovery, with all proceeds benefiting the Alabama Head Injury Foundation.
The event is a partnership between the foundation, the golf course where Long was injured and his family.
“We wanted to do something to help the other people who were in this really, really crappy club with us, a club that nobody wants to be in, doesn’t ask to be in, but you find yourself in it,” his mother, Amy Long, said.
Collin Long had been working at the Auburn University Club for only about six weeks when, on July 30 of last summer, he and 20-year-old co-worker Liam English were sent out on a John Deere Gator to dig up dirt in preparation for laying sod the next day.
English was driving and Collin Long was in the passenger seat, with the Gator’s bed weighed down with the dirt they had loaded.
As they headed down a sloped golf cart path into a pine thicket, English lost control due to the added weight of the dirt, which had given the vehicle more momentum than he expected.
An overcorrection then flipped the vehicle toward the passenger’s side, and Collin Long and English were ejected and thrown from the vehicle, with their legs becoming entangled in the air.
Their injuries were severe.
Collin Long suffered a compound fracture of his right tibia and fibula, a broken rib, a skull fracture and a broken temporal bone. English sustained extensive ligament damage to both knees and a compound fracture, and both were airlifted to UAB.
In the hours after the accident, word traveled fast.
Amy Long, a longtime administrator in the Lee County school system, learned of the wreck while at work, and the school system shared a request for prayer on social media.
The post was shared more than a thousand times, and by her account, reached millions of people who prayed for her son.
By 5 p.m., Collin Long was in emergency surgery for a craniectomy, a procedure in which surgeons remove a section of the skull to give a swelling brain room to expand, even as doctors gave him less than a 1% chance at survival.
He would go without that piece of skull for seven months and 16 days before doctors implanted a 3D-printed synthetic replacement, held in place with titanium screws, on March 16 of this year.
Collin Long spent roughly two weeks in UAB’s neuro ICU, the first 10 days in a medically induced coma, before transferring to Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville, Florida.
He was there from the middle of August until early November, working through inpatient and then outpatient rehab, before a lung infection sent him back to the hospital for a week.
Once home, he kept up an intensive schedule of physical, occupational and speech therapy three days a week.
Then, about two weeks ago, came the call his family had hardly let themselves hope for.
After a final evaluation, Collin Long’s neurologist reported that while the damage to his brain is permanent, Long has built new neural pathways and shows zero deficits, meaning he was 100% mentally intact.
The doctor, Amy Long said, had never been able to deliver that news to a patient before.
“There’s no other word for it, he’s a miracle,” Amy Long said. “I mentioned to him months ago that he was an anomaly and that for most people who go through this, they don’t have the recovery that he has.”
Collin Long, now just shy of 11 months removed from the accident that nearly took his life, plans to play in the tournament himself.
With her son prepared to play the game he loves again, Amy Long thanked event organizers Will Herring and Jimmy Green and Alabama Head Injury Foundation representative Cindy Woodcox for helping put on the event.
“They have all been so kind to us throughout the entire process and have invested in Collin,” Amy Long said. “Plus they [Herring and Green] have been invested beyond just the fact that a kid got hurt on their golf course. The desire was there to help, and the natural [fundraiser] felt like a golf tournament.”
Organizers are aiming for 18 teams, and currently have seven or eight signed. Registration opens at 7 a.m. on July 20, with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. According to Amy Long, that early start time is meant to beat the July heat.
For those who are unable to play, sponsorships are available at levels ranging from $20 to $5,000, with sponsor names featured on event signage. Registrants will also be able to enjoy a buffet lunch at noon.
For more information or to sign up, visit www.ahif.org.
