Meredith Corson

Meredith Corson is a Tampa Bay-based sand sculpting champion, known throughout the world for her creativity, energy and love of promoting the unique artform. After decades of dominating the field with her husband, renowned sculptor Dan Doubleday, and hosting events to showcase other artists, the couple planned a well-deserved road trip vacation across the West to visit their children. In August 2023, a head-on crash flipped their motorhome near Durango, Colorado, and first responders knew Meredith was going to need the expert team at Swedish Medical Center’s Level 1 Trauma Center and Burn and Reconstructive Center to save her leg after a life-altering injury.

“Right after the crash they helicoptered me to a hospital in San Juan [County, New Mexico], but as soon as we landed they said, ‘No, we can’t handle this. This is too much,’ because I had so much trauma in the lower half of my body,” Meredith said. “I was like Humpty-Dumpty, I don’t even know how many bones were broken but my biggest problem was the tibia-fibula fracture through the skin. That’s what led me here.”

The doctors in New Mexico worked with Swedish Medical Center’s 24/7 trauma coordinator and chartered a new fixed-wing flight that delivered Meredith to emergency surgery on their Englewood campus in less than four hours. Two of her daughters who live in the Denver Metro were notified of the RV crash while she was in air.

“The irony is I had just been here visiting them. We were headed home, and then I had to come back. I can’t imagine going through this without them,” Meredith said. “When I got to Swedish, I just knew. There was something inside of me that knew I was in the right place.”

Meredith said the compassion and professionalism of the entire staff helped put her at ease, “I had two nurses in the ICU and Trauma units that were so special. I’m nominating Shelly and Alexandra for DAISY Awards (the highest recognition for extraordinary care in all of nursing). They took care of me like I was their child. When Shelly was giving me a bath, she was so tender and just kind. I don’t think she was treating me any differently than anybody else. I think she treats everybody like that.”

While surgeons including Dr. Wade Smith were able to reset and brace Meredith’s broken bones, the skin and surrounding tissues weren’t healing. Dr. Benson Pulikkottil, medical director of Swedish’s Burn and Reconstructive Center and a double board-certified plastic surgeon, had been following Meredith’s case closely and recommended skin and tissue grafts to save her leg. “What they did with the skin graft just blew my mind,” Meredith said. “Dr. Pulikkottil said it was the largest skin and muscle flap he’s ever done, and I was so impressed by his skill and confidence and what he was able to do for me.”

Once the grafts were stabilized, Meredith was transferred to acute rehab for daily exercises to keep her muscles and joints healthy. With her annual sand sculpting events starting soon, she was determined to get stronger and get home.

Knowing that Meredith’s full recovery will take many months, Dr. Pulikkottil leveraged the full strength of our parent company, HCA Healthcare’s, international network of experts, and helped establish her continued care with a surgeon in Brandon, Florida, close to her home. “A lot of my concern about leaving Swedish was being able to get the same level of care. I’m very pleased to know the Florida team can pick up right where Swedish left off,” Meredith said. “It's just been an amazing experience. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to be. I'm alive and I can thank you all for that. I’ve got a life to live and I'm going to live it to the fullest.”

Read more about the advanced capabilities at South Denver’s only Level 1 Trauma Center with a dedicated and American Burn Association verified Burn and Reconstructive Center.