Nicole Wight: Mackenzie & Michael Wight

It was supposed to be a normal day for Mackenzie and Michael, who were living with their grandmother for the summer. On their way home from Chuck E. Cheese, a truck hit the car their grandmother was driving. Tragically, the accident was so severe their grandmother did not survive. Mackenzie and Michael were left in comas with traumatic brain injuries. Their father, SSG Aaron Wight, a soldier with the US Army, was immediately flown home from Afghanistan, and met their mother, Nicole, at the hospital. 

Their lives were forever changed.

Mackenzie suffered an open skull fracture and a fractured collarbone. Michael suffered a more serious brain injury known as “sheering,” where nerves were severed causing a decrease in neurological and motor functions. Both children were treated at Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside, NJ.

Mackenzie went home a little over a month later, having regained some use of the right side of her body. Michael was an inpatient for four months and underwent coma stimulation and many intensive therapies to get him breathing on his own and to regain the use of some motor function.

Today, Mackenzie is preparing for a trip to Paris & London as a Student Ambassador with the People To People Organization. Michael has played Ice Hockey with the Brick Stars, and plans to start again next season. The entire Wight family have become advocates for Brain Injury Awareness, and speak publicly through events set up by Children’s Specialized Hospital.