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The strength of an individual’s character and the quality of a community are revealed during challenging circumstances. Because of those realities, there is overwhelming inspiration present in the story of 20-year-old Carson Pierce during a tremendously difficult chapter in his life.

Pierce, who has lived in Windsor since he was 2, was in a serious car accident in late September that left him in critical condition. He is facing a road to recovery of uncertain length, but due in large part to the impact he has had on those around him, the community has rallied around him and his family in a truly remarkable way.

WHO CARSON PIERCE IS

Carson’s mother, Melissa Pierce, took some time on Wednesday, Nov. 6, to share her son’s story.

He played baseball within the Windsor Athletic Association for years, forming lasting friendships, and this continued at Windsor High School, where he played from eighth grade through his senior year. He also played for the WHS golf team.

After graduating from WHS in 2023, he went to Southside Virginia Community College through its electrical lineman program. He graduated from the program in November 2023 and was hired with Dominion Energy in February of this year. He has been working with Dominion since then as a groundsman, looking to get into a lineman apprenticeship position.

In his free time, he is an avid outdoorsman who loves hunting.

For years, Carson has been involved in volunteer work, helping Mike Luter with the Wounded Warrior Project, which supports U.S. veterans.

Carson also serves as a volunteer firefighter in Windsor.

“He’s a genuinely kind-hearted individual,” Melissa said. “I don’t think he’s really ever met a stranger.”

Luter gave some insight into Carson’s reputation in the community as someone who has been his baseball coach, employer, volunteer coordinator and who is his friend.

“I have known Carson for nearly all of his life, and he is a kind, well-mannered and very hardworking young man,” Luter said. “After graduation, I hired him to work with me at Arrowhead Environmental while he was waiting for his paperwork to be completed for his career job at Dominion Power. He was the youngest man on the crew by 10 to 15 years, and within a few weeks, he had the total respect of everybody in the company, including the most senior supervisors. 

“He impressed me by always showing up 30 minutes early before his shift, and he did an outstanding job managing and maintaining the equipment he was put in charge of,” Luter continued. “His maturity and work ethic are far beyond his age. He made such an impact on my employees that many people asked about him coming back a year after he left.”

WHAT HAPPENED ON SEPT. 25

Melissa shared the details of the serious crash that Carson was involved in and the injuries that he sustained.

“On Sept. 25, he had not been gone from home for more than five minutes, and he was in a car accident,” she said. “It had been raining that morning, and it was pretty foggy, and we’re not 100% sure exactly what happened, but I think that he went off the edge of the road on Old Myrtle Road, and his car flipped three times. It was actually right in front of Western Branch Baptist Church on Old Myrtle Road.”

She said he was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and was in critical condition.

She noted that he sustained three skull fractures, a clavicle fracture, a compression fracture in his T5 vertebra, a partially torn ligament in his neck, and he was diagnosed as having a severe traumatic brain injury.

“So we were in the (intensive care unit) for a week, and on the Tuesday before the week mark, he had some significant neuro changes and was actually taken into emergency surgery because he had increased swelling on his brain,” Melissa said. “And so they had to perform a craniectomy, and he had some hemorrhaging and so forth during the surgery, but they were able to get him stable.”

She said Carson remained at Norfolk General until Oct. 23, which is when he was transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which is an inpatient rehabilitation center that specializes in traumatic brain injuries. 

“He’s been there for two weeks today, actually,” she said on Nov. 6. “He’s made some great strides since he has been there. They have him up walking and working with physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy on a daily basis.”

She said he has started following some commands.

“He is not talking coherently yet, but he has found his voice and is starting to verbalize some,” she said. “Like I said, it’s not anything that we’re able to understand yet, but the left side of his brain is where the most significant injury was, and that is your language and comprehension center, so it’s going to take some time to gain those functions back, but he is doing well. Definitely has a long road ahead of him.”

She said, “We have all the faith that he is going to come back to us as himself or very close to that.”

Melissa and her husband, Alan Pierce, both have full-time jobs, but their employers have proven to be accommodating amid these difficult circumstances. Melissa and Alan have been switching back and forth between who is with Carson in Atlanta and who is home in Windsor providing some sense of normalcy for their 15-year-old daughter Kayden.

In terms of Carson’s physical recovery, Melissa noted that the biggest thing he has going for him is his age. 

“With brain injury patients, they always say that age is a huge factor, and so he’s young,” she said. “He just turned 20 on Oct. 13, so he was actually 19 when all this happened. So we’re hoping with some time and with some good, intense rehabilitation and so forth that we’ll be able to get him back to himself.”

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

Due to the nature of Carson’s injury, how long it may take to get him back to himself is unfortunately unclear.

“Brain injuries are really hard,” Melissa said. “That’s probably the most unfortunate thing about a brain injury is that no one is similar, and they’re very hard to determine what the outlook is going to be. 

“Right now, we’ve been given a six- to eight-week timeline at the rehab center and then hopefully discharging to home to some outpatient rehabilitation,” she said. “So that’s kind of where we’re at right now. 

“I’ve been told by multiple providers that they are cautiously optimistic that he is going to do very well because of his age and so forth,” she said. “So we’re hanging on that ‘cautiously optimistic’ and hoping that that’s the path that we go.”

THE COMMUNITY RESPONSE

The Windsor community’s response to Carson’s accident has been so strong and extensive that Melissa took notes to try to make sure she summarized it accurately.

“There was a prayer vigil that was held on Oct. 7 at the ballfields,” she said. “I think there were probably close to 300 people there.”

Among them was Amber Belcher, who helped organize the vigil and who has had a hand in several different fundraisers now for Carson and his family.

Belcher noted that Amy Carr, a close friend of the Pierces, opened up the vigil by thanking everyone for being there. Pastor Thomas Steele prayed, Carson’s grandfather Todd Rose spoke, along with Ryan Pringle and Mike Luter. Dominion Energy and the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department were also represented and showed their support.

Brooklynne Prevatte Davis organized a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $20,000 to support Carson and the Pierce family. As of Friday morning, Nov. 8, the campaign had received 357 donations equaling $33,136.

“The GoFundMe that was organized has just been overwhelmingly incredible, the support and funds that were raised through that,” Melissa said.

She noted that a fundraiser was held at El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant in Windsor on Oct. 23 that was a huge success. Virginia State Sen. Emily Jordan posted a photo on her Instagram page of the significant turnout that required additional parking spaces on loan from a neighboring lot.

“We, unfortunately, were not there because that was the day that we left to go to Shepherd,” Melissa said, “but we were FaceTimed, and it was just incredible just the number of people that turned out to be there and do pick-up orders and so forth.”

Belcher shared how the El Rodeo fundraiser came about.

She said that the morning of Carson’s accident, she immediately called her children, who knew him. Her daughter, Briana Porter, had graduated from WHS with him, as had Briana’s boyfriend, Landon Bailey, who grew up playing baseball with Carson.

“Of course, we didn’t know all the damage at the time, but the kids immediately took it very hard, and when my kids are hurt, I feel the need to try to do something to help,” Belcher said. “So myself and a friend, Shirlee Luter, who also had a son graduate with him (Trent Luter), decided we would ask Andy (Arellano) at El Rodeo if we could do a benefit night for Carson’s family to help with some of the cost with lodging, food, travel and hopefully some medical bills. 

“Little did we know it would be a huge success,” Belcher said. “As the days went on, more and more support for what we thought would be a little fundraiser turned into a miracle in our little town. We had more young adults making baskets to sell raffle tickets to help raise money, and I believe they had six baskets that night altogether. Those kids raised the family over $25,000 with the baskets alone, plus what portion went to the family from our El Rodeo night.”

In addition to Carson’s friends and former classmates, Belcher, Shirlee Luter, Susan Parsain, Amy Carr and El Rodeo owner Andy Arellano and his staff helped orchestrate the El Rodeo fundraiser.

Melissa noted that Belcher made T-shirts in honor of Carson.

Belcher said, “I decided since I work at a print shop, I would make shirts to sell to also help raise money. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to sell over 525 shirts to help the family.”

The shirt was designed by Carson’s girlfriend, Kendell Rhodes, and Belcher’s daughter, Briana, incorporating the theme of electrical linemen and the color green, which is the color associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) awareness.

“I would like to extend my personal thanks to everyone who came out to help me distribute the pre-ordered shirts at Windsor High School the Monday before the El Rodeo event,” Belcher said. “People I didn’t know were offering to come to Windsor High School and help us hand out the pre-ordered shirts.”

Belcher said she is still unsure of exactly how much money the shirts have raised because she has had to do another order after the first one sold out completely.

“I know I’m looking at over $3,500 to donate from the shirts,” she said.

Melissa noted that multiple ladies sold bracelets and stickers as part of a fundraiser.

Belcher said, “Amy and I both made decals to sell, and Amy ordered #CARSONSTRONG bracelets to sell to raise money, which I believe raised around $300 itself.”

Melissa said, “I know that Dominion Energy is actually doing a fundraiser for Carson. They’re doing that just all throughout all of their locations.”

She said that one family is going to do a gun raffle in December to raise money, and there will also be a raffle that will auction off a German Shorthaired Pointer puppy.

Belcher said, “I myself do not personally know Carson, nor his parents. I have now met some of his grandparents since all this began, but you can tell from the community how very well loved Carson Pierce is, along with his family.” 

Melissa said, “We’ve been so overwhelmed by all of the support that Carson has received. I know I’m probably a little bit biased, and I’ve always thought and known that I have a good kid, but to see all of this has just been so overwhelming.”

A MOTHERS’S REFLECTIONS

Melissa shared what this whole experience has been like for her, as Carson’s mother — from his accident and injuries to the support and the recovery journey he is now on.

“So most definitely probably the worst experience that I’ve ever had in my entire life was getting that phone call that morning (of Sept. 25) and being told what was going on,” she said. “But the community support that we have had that has rallied around Carson, I don’t know that I have any other words other than ‘overwhelming’ and ‘incredible.’

“Just the outpour of support that we have received from donations and fundraisers and food at the hospital and cards and gift cards for meals and things of that nature, we are just so incredibly grateful for all of that,” she said, “and we’re just so happy to see the progress that Carson has made so far within just a two-week period and are just very hopeful and prayerful that he continues to do well and can overcome this and get back to just his wonderful self that he was.”

She said she has heard that the qualities that make Carson who he is — his kindhearted, selfless nature, his fun-loving personality, his contagious smile — have helped make the community response possible.

HOW PEOPLE CAN HELP

For those interested in helping Carson and the Pierce family, the GoFundMe campaign continues to be active. It is accessible by going to GoFundMe.com and searching for the campaign titled, “Support Carson’s Road to recovery & the Pierce Family.”

People can follow Carson’s recovery on a Facebook page named “Carson’s TBI Journey” that is updated by his family.

On that page, Melissa posted a mailing address for those who would like to send a card or letter to Carson:

Carson Pierce BFR 209

C/O Shepherd Center

1860 Peachtree Road NW

Atlanta, GA 30309