Rice University student reunites with healthcare heroes after surviving campus accident

HOUSTON - Eddie Barreda, a student at Rice University, is back on campus and thriving, thanks in part to the dedicated healthcare workers at Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital.

Recently, he had the chance to reunite with the team that helped save his life after a traumatic accident.

It all started on the typically serene Rice University campus. It was the very last day of Eddie's freshman year. He had been out celebrating the end of the semester, when he got struck by a vehicle on the main street through campus. An ambulance rushed him just down the street to the Texas Medical Center's Level 1 Trauma Center, Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital.

"He had just come in, and we were starting to assess him, figuring out all his injuries and everything that needed to be done to stabilize him," says Heidy Godoy, a nurse clinician in the hospital's NeuroSurgical ICU.

"Especially how critical he was when he first got here, I was really worried because he was really thrashing around," states Marlon Quidilig, another nurse clinician in that departmment. "But, he made a huge difference as time progressed."

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The accident left Eddie with a fractured skull, and he was placed in a medically induced coma to allow his fragile brain to heal. He remembers very little during that first month in the hospital while fighting for his life.

"About day two or three, they had to remove a big section of my skull to relieve pressure and prevent more brain damage, which was this entire section," Eddie recalls.

He was able to work through the pain and all the rehabilitation it took to regain his strength and head back to class three months later, continuing his chemical and bio-molecular engineering studies at Rice University. He believes the excellent care he received, along with several months of rehab, got him back on track. He didn't even miss any school, since he had an entire summer to heal.

"Eight months later, I came back, exactly a year ago today, to get my skull back in, so I had to go an entire semester in school without a big piece of my skull," Eddie explains.

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That meant attending classes wearing a helmet to protect his exposed brain. He had to learn to study in different ways, deciding to forego his social life to spend more time studying to make up for the deficits of his traumatic brain injury.

"I was definitely studying more and relying on my classmates to help me," he says. "I'd say I'm about 85% mentally, but it's helping, it's working! I'm not failing any classes. I definitely struggled, but I had been through so much worse, so that seemed like it wasn't that bad."

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His hard work is paying off in more ways than one, now inspiring the people who witnessed him at his worst in the NeuroSurgical ICU at Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital. They really are in awe of how far he has come.

"I'm very much impressed," Marlon says. "For me, it's more like, he's really progressing this quickly. So you really push yourself to get this far. I could tell from the start, you really tried to survive basically, and not just survive but thrive. A huge 360 from the last time I saw you. The difference is remarkable. I mean, he's still so strong."

"Thank you so much for remembering us. I'm sure your parents remember us as well. It's a whole unit; we all took care of you," Heidy states.

"You shouldn't be giving me thanks. I'm eternally grateful for you guys!" Eddie responds.

"Honestly, I wish they would do this more often. Like, please come through, say hi to us. It really makes our world to see y'all get back on your feet so well. It's like, okay, we did this for this person. We can do it for a lot more," states Marlon.

"Absolutely," Heidy agrees.

"You hope for the future of your patients, and you know you're doing something meaningful. Just to see you back in school, I remember you very well, and I'm so glad that you were able to go back to school and that you're back on your road to your future. So happy for you," exlaims Heidy.

"Keeping hope alive. If I can do that, somehow, it's worth it," Eddie concludes. "I'm eternally thankful. There's no way I can ever repay this."