In October 2023, Josh Hopkins was involved in a violent car accident on the way home from an evening out with friends.
In trying to recall the events of that evening, Hopkins notes that he can remember a few small things but nothing much of the night as a whole. “We were bar hopping in Lexington, just having a night out, but nothing too crazy.”
What happened in the time that followed was also a blur. Hopkins was a passenger in the car when it caught fire. Initially, Hopkins was transported to a UK Healthcare hospital. Once at UofL Health – UofL Hospital, Josh began burn care. “They had to intubate me, and when I woke up I was hallucinating. They said it’s a normal thing, but it was a crazy experience. I didn’t sleep at all for three days after I woke up from that. I remember thinking and feeling…everything. It felt like I was on drugs, which I guess I was. I don’t think I really knew where I was that whole time.”
According to Hopkins, “They said I slightly fractured my back, but I didn’t get treated for it, so I guess it wasn’t that bad. I had a high degree of burn on 40% of my body on the left side. It goes from my shoulder and arm down to my foot.”
He shared that he didn’t really comprehend things for a long time. “Things didn’t really normal out for me for quite a while,” Hopkins said. I got out of the hospital in January 2024, so I was in for about three months.”
He said he remembers being in a lot of pain, especially when he had to do skin grafts.
A normal day in the hospital for Josh included waking up, having breakfast and dressing changes which he shared was the worst part of the day.
Josh remembers that his family was there for him throughout his experience. “They were there [at UofL Hospital] before I woke up. I guess on the ambulance ride I was with it enough to remember their phone number and give them a heads up.”
As the weeks stretched into months, Hopkins found himself in a headspace familiar to those who have survived a traumatic incident. “I was pretty depressed,” he shared. I went through the ‘woe is me,’ stage, and felt pretty sorry for myself. I came out of it, but your mind gets weak after a while.”
During his time at UofL Hospital, Hopkins was released to UofL Health – Frazier Rehabilitation Institute. His schedule at Frazier Rehab Institute was very regimented. “I would have one PT session and one OT session per day, about an hour each. With OT we would do stuff like brushing my teeth, showering, washing my face. PT was almost exclusively me trying to figure out how to walk again. My back was fine, but my left foot had gotten burned, so I couldn’t exactly walk around on it after surgery. I spent a lot of time laying in bed, but apparently there are only so many days that you can lay in bed without it catching up to you. I definitely didn’t want to get up, walking around (even with a walker) was very painful.”
Eventually, Hopkins felt like he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. “I was pretty scared to leave the hospital at first, because I was still pretty bad. I don’t know, maybe a month after I got home I started to feel more positively about things.” He returned home from UofL Health in January 2024.
His final surgery happened in March 2024. At this point, he finally felt as though recovery could start to happen.
For example, the gym is where he goes to destress. When he got the green light to go to the gym, he was ready. “The gym is my happy place,” Hopkins said. “When they finally cleared me to go to the gym again that got me back on the right track. It was difficult at the start, but it only took me a little while to get back to where I was, and then past where I was before.”
Hopkins finds that he doesn’t like to think about the event very much. “It makes me sad to think about it, so when I do reflect on it, I try to think about the positives.” Those positives include the people he and his family met along the way.
“The nurses and stuff,” he shared. “We still see the nurses every time I go to Louisville, we go to check on them. I think my mom still texts a few of them. I also think this event forced me to focus on my spiritual life. When you literally don’t have anything else, and you’re at your lowest point, and there isn’t anything else but God…it wasn’t something I had taken seriously before, but it forced me to see it in a new light. I’m grateful for that, and carry that with me today.”
His resilience proves throughout these times of trial. When asked about this part of his experience, he confidently answered, “I wouldn’t change it.”
