Doctor shares survival story as U of U Health celebrates 25 years as Level I trauma center

SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah Health on Wednesday celebrated 25 years as a Level 1 trauma center as one of its most esteemed doctors shared his traumatic injury survival story for the first time.

Dr. Thomas Higgins, professor and chief of orthopedic trauma surgery, said he was backcountry skiing with his wife on Dec. 30, 2025, when his adventure took an unexpected turn.

"I was attempting to traverse the Cardiff Pass, and I fell over 100 feet on my head in an environment that was mostly granite and ice," Higgins told reporters.

Higgins said his wife flagged down two other people, and they helped save his life, along with an air medical transport team.

"My temperature was super low. I had a very bad head injury," Higgins shared. "I had an open face. And fortunately — because they have a lot of reps, they have a lot of practice — it was just another day, and they took care of what they needed to take care of."

The doctor said he had to learn how to walk again, and he continued to rehabilitate from his injuries.

"The trauma system saved my life, from the person who intubated me in an aircraft to everyone who took care of me here in the ICU," Higgins said.

He expressed gratitude to those who helped him survive, and for the first time he met and thanked the Intermountain Healthcare Life Flight crew that helped him that day.

"I went back, and I thanked some of the people in the ICU, and I said, 'I don't remember being here,' and they'll just smile, and they said, 'We did our job,'" Higgins said, fighting back tears. "Forgive me if I start getting emotional, you know. I was this close to saying goodbye to my family."

Dan Lundergan, chief operating officer at University of Utah Health and chief executive officer of University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics, said Wednesday was a "remarkable time" at the news conference that marked the hospital's 25th anniversary as a Level I trauma center.

According to the organization, U of U Health was the first hospital in Utah to earn that designation from the American College of Surgeons, representing the highest level of trauma readiness.

"Patients are here at the most vulnerable time of their life, and they're looking to be taken care of, they're looking for help, and they're looking for hope," Lundergan said. "We give that to them."

Toby Enniss, trauma medical director, said the trauma center serves the largest geographic catchment area in the contiguous U.S., covering Utah, Idaho, Wyoming as well as areas of Montana, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

"That is a region that attracts people from all over the world to engage in extreme sports, extreme recreation," Enniss explained. "It's also a part of the country that's relatively less stocked in terms of resources to handle the type of trauma we see, and so that all gets funneled into us."

Enniss said in 2001, the hospital had 875 patients in its trauma registry, and now U of U Health sees anywhere from 2,500 to 2,800 trauma patients annually, adding up to over 50,000 patients in 25 years.

"When it comes down to it, I think that is the true measure of being a trauma center, and that is the trust that patients put in us, that families put in us, and that our community puts in us to care for patients in their moment of greatest need," Enniss said. "Nobody plans to meet us. Nobody plans the fall or the collision. Nobody plans the day in which their life is changed forever because of an accident, but in that moment, we're given the trust to take a life, to take a loved one in their most vulnerable moment, and to come together to perform a high level of care, and that's what we're able to accomplish at the University of Utah."

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