Thankful People: Kirsten Strebe recovers from traumatic car accident, brain injury

It's been a little over one year since the ordinary afternoon that would change Kirsten Strebe's life.

Strebe, originally from Salem, Missouri, had just started her senior year of high school when, on Oct. 25, 2016, she was driving herself and her brother home in her 1997 Chevrolet Blazer.

She overcorrected, the vehicle rolled.

She doesn't remember the wreck, she says, but she knows the truck's brakes didn't respond to her slamming on the pedal.

The vehicle rolled down the hill and struck a tree with the passenger side, Strebe says, and her head hit on the right side, and her brother's on the left, causing a skull fracture in each of them.

Kirsten Strebe sits on a bench Nov. 7 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Strebe tosses her short hair back from her face and says, "My hair's short because they had to shave it," she says.

But hair grows back.

The other effects have been less visible, Strebe says.

She's lost the hearing in her right ear after an inner-ear bone fracture.

Her brain trauma was worse than her brother's, she says, but her physical recovery was tough as well.

Kirsten Strebe sits on a bench Nov. 7 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

"He was jump-roping while I was in a wheelchair," she says, but "he couldn't count to five, and I was doing calculus homework."

Strebe was ranked first in her class when the wreck occurred, and "for this to happen threw me off track a little."

Strebe was in a coma for 30 days, in the hospital for 72, but when she was discharged, she had a new goal in mind: studying toward becoming an occupational therapist.

She'd already been accepted to Southeast Missouri State University, she says, and the university has been really supportive.

Strebe says her mother told her that before the accident, Strebe had expressed interest in forensic science, but that's not even on her radar anymore.

Kirsten Strebe sits on a bench Nov. 7 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

She now wants to work with patients who have suffered traumatic-brain injury, she says.

"I know it's gonna be hard," Strebe says. "It wouldn't be easy without an injury."

But she won't let that stop her, she says.

Before the accident, she was afraid to drive, she says. She had an older brother who died in a car crash several years ago, and that hurt her deeply.

Then for this to happen to her, it's almost like something you'd hear about happening to someone else, she says.

Kirsten Strebe sits on a bench Nov. 7 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

"You'd never think it would happen to you," Strebe says.

But the community rallied around her, she says.

People in Salem started a GoFundMe account for her family to help with medical bills, Strebe says.

"The entire community's been so supportive," Strebe says of Salem.

Not only did people contribute financially, but her family had visitors at home, many of whom brought food or did things around the house so her family could concentrate on her recovery.

Kirsten Strebe pauses for a photo Nov. 7 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

She was flown to Children's Hospital in St. Louis for her hospital stay, Strebe says.

"I'm definitely thankful for everyone who had a part in my recovery," Strebe says. "I couldn't be more thankful for my doctors, therapists, first responders, the children's hospital, my outpatient care center in Rolla, nurses, neurologist -- I couldn't have been in a better place."

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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