4-year-old southwest Minnesota girl survives serious tractor accident: 'She's a miracle'

MAGNOLIA, Minnesota — Nora Matthiesen is a 4-year-old girl whose favorite class in preschool is crafting. She’s the oldest out of Jed and DeeAnn Matthiesen’s three kids and her parents like to call her “Sassy Nora.”

But over a year ago, a tractor accident changed the entire family’s life.

On January 13, 2021, Nora suffered serious injuries after she was run over by a tractor at her family’s house in Magnolia near Luverne, Minnesota.

She was flown via medical helicopter to Sanford in Sioux Falls where she spent a week in a coma while doctors treated her injuries, unsure if she would live — or if she did, what her life would look like afterward. Three weeks later, Nora was back home recovering, talking as her parents took in their “miracle.”

‘It felt like forever’

On that warm winter day, Jed, 40, was shearing sheep on his property with two other people and DeeAnn, 34, and Nora. Originally they hadn’t planned to use a tractor, but when they were loading up the wool into the trailer, they made the decision to use it.

DeAnn had taken their second daughter Mara back inside to eat lunch while Nora stayed out to help and play in the mud puddles.

“(Jed) saw her playing in the puddles before he got in the tractor and then all of a sudden, she wasn’t there anymore,” DeAnn said.

Nora was under the tractor and Jed was sprinting inside to tell DeAnn to call 911 while the two sheep shearers helped stabilize Nora.

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The Sanford Luverne ambulance made it to the Matthiesen’s house and transported Nora to the Luverne hospital, where she was transferred to the care flight team to go to Sioux Falls.

DeAnn said that the care flight team had planned to land at their house but because “the Luverne Sanford rural team and the paramedics were so quick, the helicopter went to the Sanford Luverne Hospital.”

DeAnn, who’s a NICU nurse, went with Nora in the helicopter, while Jed and the family made the 45-minute drive to Sanford in Sioux Falls.

“It was tough, it was scary,” Jed said, playing over in his head what had happened and what he could’ve done differently.

A lucky break: Severity of injuries saved Nora’s life

When Nora arrived at Sanford, she was greeted by a team of four specialists who diagnosed her injuries.

She had suffered three skull fractures, bleeding inside the skull as well as fluid build-up around the brain, swelling of the brain and injuries to her lungs, chest, liver and spleen.

Nora’s head injury was considered severe, Eric Trumble, a pediatric neurosurgeon who treated her, said. They were worried about the swelling of her brain and the pressure it created inside her head.

But because of the three skull fractures, “she had some free-floating pieces that literally allowed the skull to expand and the brain swelling to be mediated,” Trumble explained.

“We weren’t sure she was going to survive when she came in. Many of these kids don’t,” he said. “The phrase I use for the families is initially we’re worried about life-threatening issues and then we worry about life-altering issues.”

Doctors were unsure if Nora would survive the first 72 hours but told the Matthiesens that kids are resilient.

“I think they just kind of give you the worst-case scenario so if it turns out better, it's a pleasant surprise,” Jed said. “But they want you to know what could happen.”

DeAnn said her experience as a nurse made it difficult to watch her daughter be treated. She would have questions about her treatment and “I think knowing more is almost worse.

“It kind of got in the way and I needed to be reminded that,” she said.

Six days later, Nora woke up. She’d been breathing on her own for a few days — the ventilator having been removed.

Jed had gotten up from his chair next to her bed and Nora asked where he was going.

“That was an amazing feeling,” he said.

“When she woke up and knew who we were, I felt so much relief,” DeAnn said.

Home in four weeks

Nora spent another week at Sanford before she was transferred to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Omaha for two weeks for more specialized pediatric in-patient therapy.

While at Sanford, Nora had to relearn how to hold her neck up as well as retune her fine motor skills. When she was transferred to Omaha, Sanford helped coordinate the ambulance journey.

Her doctors and rehab therapists were amazed with the leaps and bounds Nora was making in her recovery.

“It is the rare child that has the severity of Nora’s injury who returns to essentially normal,” Trumble said.

By February, Nora was back home. She was a little cross-eyed, which is normal in cases of severe brain injuries but by the summer, her eye had gone back to normal, her parents said.

In December, Nora graduated from Trumble’s care with one last CT scan that showed the fracture had healed.

Jed and DeAnn said he had told them, “to just forget it even happened. Just move on.”

And they’re trying. DeAnn was already a cautious mom and now that’s doubled. Jed said there’s moments when he’ll walk past where the accident happened and it’s not easy to forget.

“We’re fortunate we still have her here and she’s recovered,” he said. “We don’t have to think about the worst-case scenario.”

Now they get to continue to watch and help Nora grow up, who’s been cleared to play whatever sport she wants and be “sassy Nora.”

“She’s a miracle,” Jed said.

Follow Annie Todd on Twitter @AnnieTodd96. Reach out to her with tips, questions and other community news at atodd@argusleader.com or give her a call at 605-215-3757.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Four-year-old Minnesota girl survives serious tractor accident