Crash survivor Christian Cooper shares experience, growth at Mayor's Prayer Breakfast

Christian Cooper wanted to make sure the audience at the 28th annual Vestavia Hills Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast knew it was OK to laugh, so he tricked them into miming a standing ovation before he began his speech Tuesday morning.

Cooper was the keynote speaker at this year’s event, hosted by Mayor Ashley Curry and the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, and spoke after a prayer of thanksgiving by John Deblieux, a prayer for the youth by student Spencer Logsdon and a prayer for the nation and world by Dr. Chris Harmon. VHHS student Erin Chatman sang the national anthem, Maggie Mince read a piece of scripture and Capt. Daniel Porris led the pledge of allegiance.

Cooper was introduced by his mother, Kay Cooper, a former principal in the Vestavia Hills City Schools system, who along with the crowd recognized the young man’s 27th birthday, which was also Tuesday. Cooper spent his early childhood as a Vestavia Hills resident and student at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights before the family moved to Hoover.

After reminding the crowd that it was fine to laugh, even in the face of hardship, Cooper described the events of Feb. 27, 2016.

Just after 4 p.m., Cooper said he looked down as he was driving on Interstate 65 to find his car was on fire. In the moment it took him to do a double-take, he said, he veered off the road and into a ravine.

According to reports by Hoover police at the time, Cooper’s 2007 Nissan Maxima went off the road and hit an interstate sign before eventually hitting a tree, immediately bursting into flames.

Cooper said that in the haze and rush of adrenaline, he didn’t realize the car was on fire, or that he was so far off the road. He said he first tried to open the door, then to break the driver-side window, both to no avail.

After a brief moment of panic, he said, he resolved that he was getting out of there.

Cooper then began to kick at the windshield and scream for help.

That’s when, he said, he noticed Deblieux and another man had come to help.

The flames were such that his skin was already beginning to disintegrate, he said, but thankfully he had worn a leather belt and shoes, so with Deblieux pulling and him pushing with his feet, he was able to get out of the car.

At that point, Cooper said, he went into shock, though he was able to give first responders his personal information as well as his father’s cell phone number.

“The body still has its ways of trying to survive,” he said.

After that, he said, most of what happened over the next month and a half is all a second-hand account of his life.

Cooper sustained burns on 80 percent of his body, and after being given only a 5 to 10 percent chance of making it through the night, Cooper said, he was ultimately transferred from UAB hospital to Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, where he began a nearly five-month journey of recovery.

“That was just us throwing our faith to God,” he said of the snap decision his parents made to have him transferred.

Now, two years later, Cooper has gone through 85, or so, surgeries, including major skin grafts of his own tissue regrown in a lab in Boston.

On top of the surgeries, he said, he has had to go through extensive physical therapy to regain his ability to sit, stand and walk, as well as other ranges of motion.

It was during those long months of recovery, after waking up in an unfamiliar place with no idea what had happened, after being unable to move or communicate for periods of time that seemed unending, that Cooper said he was drawn back to his faith.

Cooper said that many of the nurses kept telling him to refer to himself as a survivor, not a victim.

“What I didn’t realize was, they were planting that seed,” he said.

He said at first he kept wondering “why me?” as anyone involved in such a tragedy would, but thanks to the love of his parents, the kindness and support of the nurses and staff at Joseph M. Still and everyone who he said reached out to him over those months, he flipped the script.

“Not why me, but why me” he said.

“I learned that attitude is everything,” he said, whether it be pushing through physical therapy or anything else.

“It matters so much.”

Cooper said his speaking engagements have been a way he has found to thank the people who supported him and his family over the last few years.

As for the future, he said, he will be a “professional patient” for the time being, continuing to focus on his recovery but also finding ways to share his testimony with others.

Ending, as promised, on a laugh, Cooper answered an audience question about “preventing” such a tragedy, should someone else find themselves in a similar car crash.

“You know those things in the infomercials?” he said, referring to the automobile escape tool that has a glass-breaking end and seat belt knife, “Everyone in my family owns one of those now.”

Mayor Ashley Curry thanked the community members for coming to the breakfast and participating in a day of prayer and reflection, and Cooper and his family for being willing to share their story.