Landon Darden, a Southern Arkansas University freshman psychology major from Smackover, Ark., has a new outlook on life after he suffered major head injuries in a boating accident in 2015.
“I want to become an occupational therapist,” Darden said. “When I graduated high school, my idea was to become an electrician, but the new game plan is to go into therapy, mostly because of all that happened.”
Darden, who is 18, said he and his best friend, Tanner Birchfield, set out in Birchfield’s jon boat (a flat-bottomed boat used for fishing or hunting) on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 13, for some early-season teal hunting at Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge.
“We were following my GPS,” Darden said. “I was telling Tanner how to get where we were going. Bass boats go through there every day, but we just got very unlucky.”
Their boat “hit something underwater,” Darden said, and he was thrown toward the front of the 14-foot boat. The transducer on the propeller broke on impact, causing the blades to strike Darden three times in the head.
“It was a freak accident,” he said. “The motor was still attached to the boat; it was just the transducer that broke.”
Darden said he still has no memory of the propeller striking him. His friend sprang into action, taking off his shirt and using it to try to stop the bleeding from Darden’s massive head injuries.
“He put my hands across my lap and sat on them and called 911,” Darden said.
Birchfield got lucky with phone service in an area of Felsenthal where normally there is none, Darden said.
“The good Lord was there, that’s all I can say.”
They were five minutes from the nearest boat ramp, but emergency responders answered the call. “They got me to the ramp, and by the time we got there, the helicopter was waiting on me,” he said. “I don’t remember any of this – it’s still a blank.”
He said that no more than 1 hour and 15 minutes elapsed from the time the initial 911 call was received to his arrival at the hospital in Shreveport, La.
“They got me stable enough for my parents to come and see me,” Darden said, “and then I was in brain surgery for eight hours.”
The accident had cracked Darden’s skull and broken the membranous sac holding his brain. Following surgery, Darden was in a medically-induced coma for 18 days.
“I was in ICU for a total of 32 days,” Darden said. “After I woke up it was still all a blank. They sent me to Dallas to a pediatric (facility) called Our Children’s House for rehabilitation.”
I was walking out by duck season. It wasn’t fun and it wasn’t easy, but I did it.
Darden said the injuries to the right side of his brain incapacitated the left side of his body. “My left foot was messed up; my right hand was messed up. They’re both still getting better. I had to learn how to walk, crawl, turn over in bed. It was pretty bad. I was there 31 days. They had me up and walking again in 30.”
He said that he told his doctors that “I was walking out by duck season. It wasn’t fun and it wasn’t easy, but I did it. They got me eating again and they got me up and walking.”
He said his parents, John and Glenda, sustained him throughout the ordeal.
“A lot of people at the Shreveport hospital helped Dad get through it, and Mom, too. In 60 some-odd days, Dad only went home twice.”
“Landon is our walking miracle,” said Glenda Darden. “We are truly blessed.”
Landon said he never really worried about his recovery. “I remember all the rehab, but it never really hit me what had just happened. I don’t know if the good Lord said don’t worry, but I never had a thought. I just agreed with it and said OK.”
I am taking all my pre-requisites for occupational therapy. I want to make sure people get the same kind of help I did.
Though he missed half his senior year at Smackover High, he continued with his therapy and went on to graduate in 2016. He entered SAU last fall, following in his mother’s academic footsteps. He said she graduated as a Mulerider in 1992.
“I’m enjoying it, and I haven’t had one problem,” Darden said of his experience at SAU. “I am taking all my pre-requisites for occupational therapy. I want to make sure people get the same kind of help I did.”
Fund-raisers and donations aided the family with medical bills and Darden said he has spoken to several local hunting and fishing groups about his experience. He has also returned to Felsenthal since the accident.
“It wasn’t my time,” he said of his brush with mortality. “I know it could have been worse, but I have more to do. I don’t know what it is yet but I know it’s there.”
