5-year-old recovering from ATV accident

Five-year-old Owen Riley Adkins is a “good, strong-willed little fella,” his mother says after an ATV accident on the way to see his ailing great-grandmother landed him in emergency brain surgery right before Thanksgiving.  

Owen Riley is back home in Neshoba County this week and preparing for physical therapy following the accident last Tuesday evening with two of his brothers who were not seriously injured.

Cindy Adkins said Tuesday Owen Riley is making great strides in his recovery and the family is thankful for the support and they are giving the Lord credit for the miracles.

“God continues to work miracles,” Adkins said. “We have received an unbelievable amount of support from friends and family and friends of friends, people we don’t even know. So much more could have happened and I think the quick-acting of personnel at every step and the outpouring of prayer has gotten us through this.” 

Owen Riley is happy to be home with his family which includes a total of five siblings, John Grayson, 3, Braylen, 9, Joely Kate, 11, Kyler, 15, and Cade, 18. 

Kyler Jones and his two younger brothers, Owen Riley and John Grayson, were riding in a Ranger side-by-side on a dirt road in the Dixon community to see their nearby great-grandmother, Mary Moore.

“She had just been transported home on hospice and they were eager to see one another,” Adkins said. “They were traveling on a dirt road that connects our two homes, just as the family does nearly every day.”

The road has a sandy area that leads to a narrow point that tops a hill with a slight curve in the road. As the Ranger topped the hill so did an oncoming car. 

Neither vehicle was traveling at a high speed but Adkins said all three boys were thrown from the ATV. The driver of the car was unharmed and helped at the scene.

First on the scene was the eldest Adkins brother, Cade, who was coming home from a visit to their great-grandmother’s house. Other members of the community also stopped to help.

Adkins said that most on-duty personnel and several other deputies from the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office, including her husband Deputy Sheriff Gordon Adkins, responded to the scene as well as the Dixon Volunteer Fire Department and Neshoba EMS. The three boys were transported to Neshoba General.

John Grayson sustained only a small abrasion and bruise to his side. Kyler sustained a large laceration to the scalp as well as the hand and a broken finger requiring a cast.

Cindy Adkins said that Owen Riley suffered from a broken leg which was evident on the scene of the accident but it wasn’t until he reached the hospital that he started showing signs of underlying issues.

Cindy Adkins said that ER staff and Dr. Jessica Myers acted quickly and did a “phenomenal job” taking care of her son. She said that Myers took some scans, deduced that her son had suffered a serious head injury and quickly called Air Care and Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson to make arrangements.

This started a series of procedures, CT scans, a “touch and go” open head surgery to repair his scalp and an ICU stay that would extend through Thanksgiving.

“We were not really thinking about the Thanksgiving holiday but we were thankful to be with our son and that all of his brothers were safe at home,” Cindy Adkins said. “It could have been worse. We could have been holding a funeral instead for Owen or his brothers.”

Owen Riley was over to a room on the morning of Friday, Nov. 27, and was discharged on Sunday evening.

Owen Riley will remain in a cast for several weeks and will undergo physical and occupational therapy three times per week to maintain the function of his broken leg and regain what the parents believe will be total function of his left arm. Given the size of the right-sided brain bleed, his left arm lost some degree of motor function. 

Adkins said that the family appreciates the continued prayers from those in the community and recommends any offers of monetary donations be made in the form of donations to Batson in Owen Riley’s name “to help ensure that other families are blessed in all the ways they were during their hospitalization.”