CrossFit gym owner and coach Kerrie Olsen remains on life support after a freak golf cart accident while vacationing in Mexico.
“We were just driving around talking and laughing and just reminiscing,” Olsen’s best friend, Annie Stagg, told Fox 13 Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 6. “Next thing you know, we’re in hell.”
The accident happened last week in Puerto Vallarta, when the golf cart tipped over and Olsen suffered a traumatic brain injury after hitting her head. Olsen and Stagg were riding in the golf cart with their husbands.
“I had to leave the scene to go find help for us, and I didn’t know if I’d see her again,” Stagg recalled.
Stagg said the group was being “cautious” while riding the golf cart. “We’re not reckless people,” she insisted.
While still unconscious, Olsen was rushed to a hospital in Mexico, where it was determined she suffered a subdural hematoma with bleeding around her brain. After undergoing surgery, she was placed on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.
Olsen returned to the United States on Wednesday evening, according to a GoFundMe set up in her honor.
“The medevac and the full medical team got her here safely and kept her stable the entire flight,” the fundraising page said. “Her parents and her three kids met them in a private area at the airport, and they were able to spend a little bit of time with her before she was transported to the ICU.”
The GoFundMe added, “She is still on life support and fully sedated, but they were able to touch her, see her, and tell her they love her. Our girl is home. This is the moment so many of you have been praying for, sharing for, and showing up for. Thank you. Truly. The family feels every bit of it.”
Olsen’s fundraiser has earned more than $87,000 at the time of publication, with the money going to help support Olsen and her family as she recovers.
“It is our turn to take care of them the way Kerrie has always taken care of all of us,” the page read. “Every share, every dollar, every prayer matters. The family has said it best: we love you all, and we see you all. Come on, Kerrie. You are home. We are right here.”
Olsen is the owner of SKOL CrossFit in Riverton, Utah.
“SKOL is not really a gym,” the GoFundMe said. “Anyone who has walked through those doors knows that. It’s a family. It’s a community. It’s a place people go because it’s where they feel most like themselves.”
The page added, “Kerrie knows every member by name. She knows their kids. She knows what they are going through outside the gym walls, and she shows up for them in ways most gym owners never would.”
