CINDY PETERSON: Wilson's rough road to Bismarck

By CINDY PETERSON Bismarck Tribune | Posted: Saturday, August 21, 2010 8:51 pm | (0) Comment

Kylee Wilson ran into a string of bad luck the night before she was set to move to Bismarck.

Wilson was traveling from Iowa to her hometown of Omaha, Neb., the evening of Aug. 1.

The next morning Wilson, her mom and a close friend planned to set off for the Capital City so Wilson could start her duties at Bismarck State, where she is the new women's basketball coach and will be starting the school's softball program.

Wilson, her mom and friend went into Iowa to borrow a trailer from her friend's grandfather to help bring her furniture to Bismarck.

Little did Wilson know that her arrival in Bismarck would be delayed by more than two weeks. The trio ended up in an emergency room in Omaha that night.

At about 6 p.m., Wilson was driving her Trailblazer when the women heard a loud noise and felt a strong pull on the vehicle. The trailer started fishtailing.

"I had a semi to the right and a ditch to the left," Wilson said. "There was a bridge 10 to 20 feet in front of me. The trailer went off the edge into the ditch."

A gentleman who witnessed the accident said Wilson's Trailblazer rolled five or six times.

"The guy behind us ran down there right away," Wilson said. "He said sparks had been coming from the trailer. I hit a bump earlier, and we think the trailer came off the hitch and ball. I was pulling the trailer by the chains."

Wilson's mom was able to kick out her window and get out of the vehicle. Wilson couldn't get her door open and was removed by the jaws of life. The roof was cut off to rescue her friend.

"Luckily we were all wearing our seat belts," Wilson said.

Wilson's mom sustained bruises on her right side.

Her friend suffered from whiplash and had a piece of glass lodged in one of her toes.

Wilson took the brunt of everything. She suffered lacerations on her face and forehead. She was treated with six staples to the back of her head.

Doctors shaved part of

her head in the back and some of her hair in the front was shaved from hitting the driver's side window.

Wilson also got stitches in her left knee and still has glass particles in one of her elbows.

Wilson spent two days in the hospital getting CAT scans.

"They found bleeding in my brain," she said. "They couldn't tell if it was from the accident or if I already had it."

Wilson, who normally wears her hair long, came to Bismarck with a different hairdo.

"My mom feels bad because they shaved some of my hair off and I have scars," Wilson said. "It's just hair. It will grow back."

Wilson, who was advised not to travel, came to Bismarck last week for orientation.

She went back to Omaha for a follow-up visit and arrived in Bismarck on Tuesday.

When Wilson entered the emergency room, she wasn't worried about herself.

She was fretting over recruiting for basketball and softball. She was worried about getting her office and apartment set up. She asked her dad to phone BSC athletic director Buster Gilliss immediately.

"I wasn't worried about my injuries," Wilson said. "I knew I was bleeding, but I wasn't in a lot of pain. There were so many things I felt like I needed to do. Everything got put on hold. There's a lot of recruiting to do."

Even though Wilson has been in town for just a few days, she's gotten the opportunity to meet some of her basketball players.

Another thing on Wilson's to-do list is starting up her softball pitching camp.

She's also been welcomed by her colleagues at BSC.

"I haven't met one person who hasn't extended their hand to help out," she said. "Some players offered to help move me into my apartment.

"I can't wait for school to start. I want to get a feel for what the campus is like when the students are there. Right now there's only so much I can do until the athletes get there."

(Cindy Peterson is a Tribune sportswriter.)