Teen Reflects on Devastating Freshman Year Crash and Says 3 Years Later, He Can See the ‘Hidden Blessing' (Exclusive)

Yahoo

26-05-2025

On March 28, 2022, brothers Surafel and Kirubel Mesfin were involved in a horrible car crash
"I remember seeing the truck coming towards us, but I was too late to say anything. And then after that, everything went black," Surafel, now 17 and about to graduate high school, tells PEOPLE
As for the future, Suafel plans to follow in his older brother's footsteps and continue his studies at the University of UtahThree years after the devastating accident that left him with critical neck and spine injuries, Surafel Mesfin is graduating high school.
The 17-year-old Logan High School senior tells PEOPLE that the devastating crash was a 'hidden blessing' because of all he learned pushing through the difficult physical and mental recovery.
'This showed what I'm able to do. I could get through this,' says the Utah teen. 'This journey, although it left scars, both mentally and physically, these scars aren't a reminder of what I lost, but what I gained.'
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On March 28, 2022, around 7:45 a.m., his older brother Kirubel was driving him to school in a Nissan Altima. At the time, Surafel was a freshman and his older brother was a senior.
'We were just goofing around, just listening to music,' Surafel says of the moments before a water truck "came hurtling towards us."
"I remember seeing the truck coming towards us, but I was too late to say anything. And then after that, everything went black," he adds.
When he woke up, glass and shards of metal were everywhere — and upon seeing his brother slumped over behind the wheel, Surafel thought that he had passed away.
Then his own physical pain hit.
'I was screaming in agony,' he recalls. 'It was just all over my body, especially my hips and lower back.'
Paramedics ripped the brothers out of the car and flew them to two different hospitals. Although Kirubel was 18 at the time, Surafel was only 14, so he was sent to a children's hospital in Ogden.
Surafel, whose parents and older sibling moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia before he was born, sustained two broken ribs, and injuries to his neck and lower back. (A GoFundMe was established at the time to help the Mesfin family.)
Hospital staff prepared him for the challenges he would face healing physically from the devastating crash, but he says that no one talked to him about the mental obstacles he would have to overcome.
'No one really told me that I was going to battle myself constantly throughout my journey,' he says. 'It was basically a losing battle against my body, just being discouraged daily of what I was able to do and what I could no longer do at the time."
'It was basically just a wave of depression,' he explains. 'I couldn't move. And it was just a battle between me and my body, basically, because I needed assistance with everything.'
He needed help eating, sitting upright or using the bathroom.
'It was discouraging. I just felt worthless,' he says. 'Why was this happening to me?'
His brother had more extensive injuries. He underwent multiple emergency brain and heart surgeries in the hours after the crash, then had additional procedures to treat his broken arms, wrists, hips and spine.
But Kirubel, too, was able to recover and he's now a 22-year-old student majoring in psychology at the University of Utah.
Surafel plans to attend the same university in the fall and major in biology — and he hopes to one day become a neurosurgeon.
The teen says the resilience and gratitude he gained through his recovery gave him a new purpose and he became more involved volunteering at school and in his community. 'I try to grow closer to the person I want to become now," he explains. "I want to become someone who turns their pain into a possibility and acting with kindness and making others feel seen, valued, and cared for.'
'I couldn't have done this without the support of my friends, family and community,' he says. 'My friends and family told me, 'Keep pushing forward." I will fall at times, but what's important is to get back up each time so I can just continue to push forward. I think that helps me a lot.'
Read the original article on People