A thesaurus full of adjectives could be used to describe what has been an interesting school year for all of Blanco High School’s seniors, but graduation means even more for one of those teens who is recovering from injuries caused by a major car accident that occurred last year.

“She shouldn’t be alive, so the fact that she’s been able to return to school and make good grades is remarkable,” said Christi Giese, mother of Madelynn Giese.

It was a bright and sunny Friday afternoon in Blanco when Madelynn, driving near Highway 281, suddenly was T-boned by another vehicle in an instant that would change the lives of her and her mother.

“After high school, her plans were to travel the world, surf and take pictures,” Giese said. “She went from a kid who was ready to fly to having to learn to walk, write and talk again. She’s improving every day. It makes my heart happy to see how far she’s come.”

Madelynn is looking into taking online classes after graduation and possibly attending welding school.

“She started taking welding in her sophomore year and she’s taking it again this semester.”

Giese said that her daughter is “ecstatic” about graduating soon.

Changes and challenges

Madelynn had to be airlifted to a hospital in Austin and she suffered multiple broken bones, but her mom said it’s the traumatic brain injury that’s been the most stubborn to overcome.

“The brain is incredible, but there is still a lot to learn, especially about TBI,” Giese said. “There is no manual for dealing with a head injury.”

Madelynn, now 18, was 17 years old on Jan. 24, 2020, when the accident occurred.

“It was a day of her being a normal teenager, heading back home from San Antonio, and the next thing she knew this happened,” Giese said. “She ended up being in a coma for three weeks. No one prepares you to go through something like this. It was overwhelming but Madelynn is tough and God was moving mountains.”

The TBI also changed Madelynn’s life in other, more unanticipated, ways.

“Maddy was the kid who everyone went to when they had problems, because she was a good listener and she really took the burden off others,” Giese said. “Now she doesn’t have a filter, and that’s been extremely difficult for her. She might say something and not know that she’s raising her voice. You see how beautiful she is and it’s like nothing ever happened, but TBI is invisible and it doesn’t ever go away…it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Support from all directions

God had a hand in things, Giese said, but it was the support of family and members of the community that has pulled the family through.

“There were already people at the hospital before I got there,” Giese said. “Word spread fast: It’s part of being in a small town. Later there were prayer chains going all over the world. All these people kept us going. I don’t know what I would have done without my faith and the faith of others.”

People did even more than offer prayers: they opened their wallets, raising more than $24,000.

“That money is going to be put into a trust for her,” Giese said. “I never could have imagined how the community would come together.”

Throughout the ordeal, Giese kept a public journal on the website Caring Bridge.

She was not a journal writer prior to the accident; but since then, she’s had folks asking why she hasn’t written a book yet.

“It was a way to get information out to people easily,” Giese said. “But people really poured their hearts into wanting something good for Maddy. She’s changed people’s lives by giving them hope and she has even more to offer because of what she’s been through. Something positive came out of something that was devastating.”

To read Christi Giese’s journal entries and to learn more about Madelynn’s story, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/madelynngiese.