After near-fatal December crash, Bunch on fast-tract to recovery

An arm cast and a small, blue back brace are the only signs that give away the fact 17-year-old Whitney Bunch was involved in an auto accident just over a month ago that nearly claimed her life.
The Corbin High School teen said she can’t wait to return to school Jan. 19 – the day doctors plan to officially allow her to return.
“I feel a lot better than I did. That first week I was home, I don’t remember that much,” Bunch said as she leaned against a decorative well 20 feet from the front porch of her grandparent’s Corbin home Monday; the place she’s been allowed to convalesce since the Dec. 6 accident. She can walk, smile and after several months of physical therapy, she’ll have normal use of her left hand and wrist. She was able to enjoy Christmas at home with her family.
Bunch was traveling home from visiting her boyfriend in Williamsburg when she lost control of her 1999 Chevrolet Impala. The car flipped at least twice and she was thrown from the vehicle into the northbound passing lane of I-75. The car came to rest on its top in the median.
A truck driver noticed her lying in the road and alerted police, who got the call at about 10:30 p.m. Bunch was airlifted from Baptist Regional Medical Center to the University of Kentucky Hospital where she stayed on life-support systems for two days.
Bunch said she still has no memory of the accident, or even events a week before the accident.
“I had a dance three days before … a winter formal … I don’t remember any of it,” she said. “I lost a week of memory. Even school … I don’t remember going or anything.”
Bunch said she also can’t recall her hospital stay and remembers only being at home after the crash.
Her grandmother, Maxine Bunch, said Whitney’s quick recovery has stunned both doctors and family members.
“She’s just a little miracle,” Maxine Bunch said. “We just feel like a quick recovery is an answer to our prayers. I guess you could call it luck, but we like to think of it as being blessed. We just really feel like there was divine intervention … God took care of her and spared her.”
Maxine Bunch said an Illinois woman following Whitney before the accident said there were no obvious signs of trouble before it occurred. An inspection of the car has turned up no mechanical problems either.
“I kind of wonder if maybe she dozed off.”
Whitney has gone to the movies and to church twice. Visited friends and even attended a birthday party. The teen’s mother, Cindi Farmer, said she looks forward to her daughter being able to return to normal in the near future.
“She’s got another six to eight weeks of follow ups in Lexington, but after that we will do more locally,” Farmer said. “For a complete recovery it will probably be another six months. We are just all really thankful to have her home.”
Currently Bunch is continuing high school course work through the school districts homebound program and will graduate on time. She expects to attend either the University of Kentucky or Eastern Kentucky University to pursue a career in retail management.