BILLINGS — A Columbus athlete has not only survived a vehicle crash but more recently a brain-related medical emergency. That means he's survived separate life-threatening traumas in less than three years.
After a Friday night basketball win over Joliet on Feb. 13, Columbus senior Ethan Hulsey collapsed in his bedroom after what he described as a severe headache.
"I was in my room, I was like, 'Man, my head hurts.' Just like (an) excruciating migraine," he told MTN Sports.
That was the last thing he remembered before losing consciousness. His mother, Laura Hulsey, who has worked at Stillwater Billings Clinic for over eight years, was not the one to call for help that night. Ethan's younger sister, Jolee, who had been trained to stay calm in emergencies, made the 911 call.
"And she had got everything prepared for the ambulance coming in, and the paramedics and...my daughter was amazing," Laura recalled. “He suffered a grand mal seizure. I’ve never called 911 from my home because I’ve always been in the E.R. when someone comes to me.”
Ethan was rushed to Stillwater Billings Clinic, then life-flighted to Intermountain Health in Billings for a brain test, which came back negative. He was intubated. Two days later on Sunday, March 15, doctors performed a spinal tap.
"And it proved he had a bacterial meningitis. He wasn't viral," Laura said.
While hospitalized, headaches persisted. An MRI revealed his skull was cracked across the forehead. Ethan was placed on a five-day liquid diet and lost nearly 25 pounds.
His teammate, Colter Chamberlin, watched the situation unfold.
"He was pretty much dying, and it was terrifying," Chamberlin said.
But four weeks later at the Southern B divisional basketball tournament in Billings, Ethan was back on the bench with teammates — not in uniform, but in true form.
"Oh, I get loud. I love to cheer," Ethan said with a big smile and the simple appreciation of rejoining his friends and teammates.
"He's the light to the fire. He's loud, he's got a deep voice, you can hear him whenever," Chamberlin said.
But this wasn't the first time Ethan had faced a life-threatening crisis. Just over two years ago, after a football scrimmage, he was driving along Highway 10 outside Columbus with two teammates — Grayson Williams and Chancy Segeberg — one in a vehicle ahead of him and one behind.
"He veered off the curve and went through the pasture. And he flipped (his vehicle), went through the windshield and landed in the ravine. And then the boys got out of their vehicles, ran through the pasture to save him," Laura explained.
Both teammates played a critical role in saving his life.
"One was at the bottom of the ravine, pulled him out of a swamp. The other one was at the top … called 911," Laura said.
That was the first time Ethan was rushed to Stillwater Billings Clinic and life-flighted to Billings. Doctors performed emergency leg surgery, inserting a rod from his knee to his ankle.
"And then they did a brain surgery, and then they did a face surgery," Laura recalled.
She said Ethan was hospitalized for 14 days between the ICU and pediatrics care. He missed the remainder of football and basketball as a sophomore but returned to play his junior and senior seasons — until the recent seizure episode brought another hospital rush and life flight that felt like déjà vu.
"It's a pretty hard thing to go through, but I know I have a great team behind me," he said of his friends, teammates, community and caregivers.
Ethan said he does not remember either trauma. Laura said that for the last two years, unknown to the family, his brain had been swelling. While the family and doctors are still working to control his headaches, she expressed deep gratitude to her medical coworkers who helped during both emergencies.
"I just got on my knees a lot to pray," Laura said.
Through it all, Ethan said the experiences may have pointed him toward a future career.
"That's kind of what I want to do when I get older, physical therapy, because I've spent a ton of time in it," he said.
His mother summed it up simply.
"He's with us, he's thriving and you know … he's already won the game," Laura said. "God is the biggest best friend he's ever had right now, and he's beaten death twice."
