Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Two Arizona sisters, Sabrina and Jessica Wilhite, are recovering after a drunk driving accident.
- Jessica left the hospital dancing, while Sabrina faces a challenging recovery, having lost her arm.
- Their father emphasizes seat belt safety, highlighting the preventable nature of drunk driving incidents.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Two sisters who were hit by a suspected drunken driver in Arizona while they were traveling to Utah are making a miraculous recovery after spending weeks in the intensive care unit.
It was Friday night, Nov. 22, 2024, when Sabrina Wilhite, 25, and her sister Jessica Wilhite, 22, were hit while traveling on a rural highway outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. The two were heading to Utah to see a brother leave on a mission and to visit family for the holidays.
Both sisters ended up at the ICU in Flagstaff, near death, with multiple broken bones and internal bleeding.
Miraculously, Jessica Wilhite danced her way out of the hospital just before Christmas.
"That was my goal. I told my parents, 'Oh I'm going to walk out of here, no actually I'm going to dance out of here," Jessica Wilhite said. "They really didn't think I would make it through the night (after the accident). I lost a lot of blood. I had a lot of internal damage. They didn't think they would be able to fix it. Knowing where I am now is just a miracle — every timeline they gave us, every expectation I've surpassed."
On Jan. 9, Sabrina Wilhite was well enough to leave the ICU in Flagstaff and be moved to a skilled nursing facility in Salt Lake.
"They had to use the Jaws of Life to pull me out, and my body was stuck to the dashboard of the car," she said from her hospital bed at St. Joseph Villa.
Her injuries were so serious that she lost her left arm just above the elbow, and her road to recovery is still a long and painful one.
"Working on the ability to move my arms and legs, to speak again, to eat again, to breath properly," she said.
But she's alive.
"It's been an absolute miracle. Just the fact that I'm here. The fact that God was able to save my life. I shouldn't be here today, but I am," she said.
Sadly, this is a family that has spent years involved in Utah's Zero Fatalities Campaign, and now they are on the other side of it.
"I've preached that for decades and now to have it hit my family has just been crushing to us," said the sisters' father, Brent Wilhite. "They are living proof that seat belts save lives. I'm grateful they learned to wear their seat belts, but I wish the other person would not have been drinking and get behind the wheel."
It's been an absolute miracle. Just the fact that I'm here. ... I shouldn't be here today, but I am.
–Sabrina Wilhite
Now the family's message is personal.
"Somebody made a bad choice and it didn't affect them. It affected me. And there is nothing I can do about it, and it is so preventable," Sabrina Wilhite said.
A GoFundMe* has been set up to help the family with medical expenses.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
