Ray Stevens

On Tuesday, May 5, Ray completed his last undergrad assignment of the spring semester & was set to virtually graduate from Ole Miss on Saturday, May 9th. Shortly after 8 AM on Wednesday, May 6, Ray, his mother Nancy, and his friend Ben were traveling on highway 41 outside Okolona, MS when an oncoming car veered into their lane and hit their car head-on. The crash proved fatal for at least one passenger in the other car, and it caused traumatic injury to everyone, especially Ray and Nancy.  All three were taken by ambulance to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Ben had several gashes on his head and face, was bruised, and had minor injuries. Nancy was rushed into emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding from a perforated bowel and has a cracked vertebrae. Ray, the front-seat passenger, took the brunt of the accident. Like his mother, he too had a perforated bowel that was discovered later that night and successfully repaired. In addition, he has many broken bones - back, neck, collarbone, shoulder, left ankle, left fibula, left wrist, all but two ribs on his right side - plus several cuts on his face. The arteries in the front of his neck experienced so much trauma that it caused him to have a stroke and lose feeling on his left side.  Since the accident, Nancy has had much improvement and has been able to walk and eat successfully. Ray is in the ICU recovering from his bowel surgery and is awaiting multiple bone reconstruction surgeries. He is still unable to move his left side. Thanks to everyone who has reached out with concern about my brother. Please continue to keep Ray and my mother in your thoughts and prayers as they both have a long road ahead of them. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on their progress.