Britt O'Brien

Dear Friends, 

We got the call no parent wants during the early morning hours of August 7th.  Britt was outside of Atlanta with some college friends and lacrosse teammates for a long weekend, and dove into the shallow end of a pool.   He has a spinal cord injury, with a compression fracture of his C5 vertebrae. He was airlifted to the Trauma Center ER at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, GA.  Tim put me on a 6 a.m. flight and he drove, so we would not be both stuck in traffic or on a runway.  His dear friend Wills' father, Jim, was our angel and stayed with our boy until I arrived, and then with me until Tim could get there.  That afternoon, Britt underwent surgery to relieve the pressure on his spinal cord, and has since regained some movement in his shoulders and arms.  Grady is one of the very best trauma centers in the country and his surgery went very well.  Our goal now is to get Britt to The Shepherd Center here in Atlanta, as it is world renowned for spinal cord rehabilitation.  In perfect Centre mafia style, Dr. Steve Goudy, an old college friend of mine, showed up at the hospital and has been a constant source of support in navigating all of this, and getting Britt into The Shepherd Center.  

Following the surgery, Britt was doing amazingly well.  He came off the ventilator faster than anticipated, and was able to have his best childhood friend share his huge smile on FaceTime while our friends and church family in Lexington were having a special prayer service for him.  That afternoon, he started to have some breathing issues, and his oxygen levels decreased to the point that they had to but him back on the ventilator.  Part of his right lung collapsed, possibly due to him aspirating water during his accident.  Special thanks to his dear friend and teammate, Ian, for pulling him out of the water just in time.  His other friends were so brave, and did just as they should to make sure he was stabile until EMS arrived.  They will forever be our hero’s.  

Please pray, specifically, that Britt will stabilize enough to be transported to Shepherd Center as soon as possible, to begin the hard work that I know he will attack harder than any challenge he has ever faced.  He has what it takes to overcome the diagnosis he has been given.  Please also pray that if any infection is present in his body that it is easily treated with antibiotics.  Today is August 9th, and I am finally able to write this to keep all of you informed of what happened, and where we are right now.  


Gracie is home, holding down the fort, surrounded by an army of friends who have been angels to us.  We hope she can get here soon to visit Britt, but the COVID restrictions are making that challenging.  For now, please love on her for us.  We miss her very much.  

It  will be a long road for us, but we are fighters, and Britt, being the sweet soul he is, has had  a smile on his beautiful face throughout this ordeal, thanks everyone who does anything for him, and has already charmed the staff in the ICU.  Please pray for the doctors, for them to have the wisdom and skill and for God to heal our beautiful boy. Britt is the most amazing person and his attitude is unbelievable. We will get through this together.  He learned how to do this from the other great fighter, his Dad.  He is defying the odds, and so will Britt!  

We are so overwhelmed and grateful for the outpouring of love and support and we are so sorry if we have an answered every text or call.  Please share this link with friends and family.  Please sign up to receive text alerts when this page is updated.  I will try my best to keep everyone informed.  This is a very busy and stressful time for us, and we need and feel every prayer that is being sent for our family, and our amazing son.  He is so very well loved.   Please pray fervent and intentional prayers for him.  


We love you all. 
Kristen, Tim, Britt and Gracie