Family grateful for help after snowmobiler suffers life-altering injuries in crash

WASATCH COUNTY, Utah — Jaxon McCuistion’s family gathered in Heber City for a fun family reunion last weekend, filled with snowball fights and snowmobiling.

For Adrienne Sloan, who came up from Vegas, it was a chance to see her 23-year-old son, who lives in Midvale.

“So excited. Hadn’t seen him in several months,” she said.

McCuistion came up Saturday, she explained. Family members loaded onto snowmobiles and took off, including McCuistion and his brother.

Not too long later, his brother came back.

“My son came over the ridge, and was screaming,” Sloan recounted. He was yelling for help and told them McCuistion had crashed. Sloan and her sister, Sarah White, described how the sun was glistening so brightly that McCuistion didn’t realize he was riding over a sudden drop-off. He thought he was on flat land.

It was clear McCuistion wasn’t in good shape, which immediately sent Sloan into a panic.

“Because we lost a son. Our first son died when he was 18 — he was Jaxon’s best friend,” she said. “And so, as a mom, you know, to hear that… my heart just dropped.”

She, along with White and other family members rushed over to find McCuistion bleeding all over. His eye had come out of its socket, his face was shattered, and it was clear he had broken bones in other places.

“He landed on his face and the helmet part partly broke off into his face,” Sloan explained.

Luckily, they had cell service to call 911. The family worked to keep McCuistion stable for an excruciating 45 minutes while waiting for search and rescue to arrive.

“Someone was at his feet… her other son was at his head, and someone was on the phone with a 911 operator,” White said. “Everybody had a part and just kept each other calm.”

A medical helicopter arrived and flew McCuistion to Intermountain Medical Center, where he’ll now have to stay for weeks as he undergoes surgeries and facial reconstruction.

“He has a broken leg and a broken wrist. Pretty much all the bones in his face were broken, and he lost his right eye,” Sloan said. “I was hoping that they could save it, but it was, the optical nerve was severed.”

Sloan had to tell her son the news when he regained consciousness, that he had lost his eye.

But his helmet saved his life, and McCuistion will be able to recover.

“I said, ‘You’ve got a perfect brain and a perfect heart, and you’re going to be OK and you’re going to heal,'” Sloan said.

Sloan and White talked about how McCuistion’s helmet was not on correctly at first, but he stopped once he noticed and tightened it moments before the crash.

The family is now blown away by the hundreds of people who immediately donated more than $20,000 to a GoFundMe* fundraiser White created, in less than a day. They know McCuistion will need help with the mountain of medical bills and being out of work.

It gives them hope as McCuistion starts his recovery journey and adjusts to his new life.

“I’m just shocked. I’m so full of gratitude and love,” Sloan said, of seeing everyone rally around them. “There’s just no words to describe how you feel when you see people reaching out to love your child like that, in his worst time of need. In the time when he’s going to be the most challenged. And to know that there are people out there that love him and want to see him be OK.”

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