Ten years after a traumatic elevator accident, a teen returns to the PICU to say thanks  

Reagan Lennes was just five years old at the time of a traumatic accident that brought her to Hennepin Healthcare. When her head was crushed in an elevator system, she was airlifted via LifeLinkIII from Alexandria to Hennepin Healthcare with traumatic facial injuries her surgeon, Dr. Lance Svoboda, had never seen in someone so young.  

Ten years later, she walked back into Hennepin Healthcare with a big smile, a stack of Polaroids from her many stays ten years ago, and a bin overflowing with gifts for our smallest patients. She and her family still remembered her caregivers, and her caregivers hadn’t forgotten her either as they exchanged hugs, called over Facetime, and remembered Reagan’s bravery during her long recovery.  

With a slideshow of photos from Reagan’s healing journey playing in the background, the team caught up on Reagan’s life—she’s 15 now, a dancer, taller than some of her caregivers—and shared memories of Reagan’s first month-long stay and the dozen surgeries that brought her back over the next year.  

Child Life Program Coordinator Alyson Weiss welcomed the family back to the Pediatric ICU. She recalled playing I Spy with Reagan and her sisters through the hospital windows as they watched the Metrodome come down and the U.S. Bank Stadium go up. It was a normal play experience for a small child in an environment that could feel frightening. “Kids stick,” she said. “I can’t always remember parent names, but I remember kid’s names.”  

Reagan hugged LaChell Gatlin—a former PSC who used to leave Lip Smackers for Reagan and do her nails—and they remembered how much Reagan loved LaChell’s glittery eyeshadow. LaChell says she keeps a box of photos of patients and sometimes follows up with the team to ask how they are. “In our mind, you never grow,” she told Reagan.  

Michelle Erickson, now the Clinical Care Supervisor for Peds/PICU, told Reagan, “You were one of my first patients I ever had, and you were one of the main reasons I continue to be here.”  

Reagan’s mother, Lisa Lennes, spread 10-year-old Polaroids on a conference room table and took new Polaroids of Reagan and her caregiver, holding the photo from years ago.  

Lisa told herself she wasn’t going to cry but said through tears, “I just can’t say enough about everybody. You don’t ever stop thinking about it.”  

“Honestly, I picture you sometimes! I picture you sometimes,” she said, turning to different members of the team. “Everybody! You guys save lives – how do you top that?”