Lubbock Olympic Athlete Hopeful Brandon Birdsong suffered several serious injures Monday morning during what officials called a dumpster truck crash in Santa Barbara, CA.
“He had an ankle injury, and so rather than running in the morning he was riding his bike,” Birdsong’s Sister Kasey Martinez said. “How we understand it, he was coming down a hill or something and a garbage truck was coming up the hill and somehow there was a collision.”
Martinez told KLBK and EverythingLubbock.com a stranger running on the same path found Birdsong on the side of the road unconscious. Then called 911 and waited until help to arrive on scene.
First responders found Birdsong’s cell phone close by and called his fiancé, Brittni Hutton to inform her what had happened.
She was at his bedside when he first opened his eyes.
“He just looked at me and he was like I’m hurt, I’m hurting “B”,” Hutton said. “I just held his hand and just try to smile and told him it’s going to be okay, I’m here. We’re here together. You’re here, you’re alive, you’re okay.”
Birdsong’s family said he’s suffered a broken collar bone, collapsed lung, lacerated liver, broken ribs on the right side of his body, and more than a dozen fractures overall.
His family who is still lives in Lubbock was able to drive up the hospital to be with him while he recovered the very next day.
“The first couple of days he was in quite a bit of pain so it was hard for him to talk,” Martinez said. “But my mom said he’s in wonderful spirits. He does not remember everything’s that’s happened though.”
She added Birdsong might be released from the hospital Sunday if his condition remains stable.
“He’s a very strong person so it’s something he’s going to be able to come back on to be,” Martinez said. “It’s going to be a long road but he’s going to get past this obstacle and keep moving forward.”
