She stands 5 feet tall and weighs 108 pounds. She’s small in stature but big in believing. Huntsville, Alabama’s Lisa Kimbrell shouldn’t be with us today, but by the grace of God and the grit of some of the world’s most talented doctors, Lisa is walking, talking and eating again.

She’s the 44-year-old widow and mother who is the Rocket City Miracle.

Lisa Kimbrell knows a thing or two about hard work and resolve. She married young and had four children in 7 years. Lisa worked as the manager of an auto repair shop — she lost her husband Alan in 2018 when cancer took him at the age of 45.

Then, about two and a half years ago, she pulled her vehicle out of a gas station parking lot and into her incredible journey of beating the odds.

It was Aug. 27, 2022 when another driver hit her vehicle at a high rate of speed and demolished her car, Lisa told me. First responders took over an hour to cut Lisa out of the vehicle — she was rushed to Huntsville Hospital with a broken leg, a broken ankle, a fractured pelvis, a brain bleed, a lacerated spleen and a collapsed lung. Her backbone was severed from her tailbone. And she suffered the most frightening of all injuries, a torn aorta — the human body’s largest artery that sends blood to organs.

Lisa Kimbrell is not sure how she survived that horrible crash. Doctors at Huntsville Hospital were a big reason. They slowed the bleeding in Lisa’s chest by placing a graft — a synthetic tube covered with fabric — to replace part of Lisa’s aorta. Still, it was touch-and-go for months, as numerous surgeries and visits to rehab began to help Lisa walk and function again.

It was nearly a year after the accident, and Lisa was making progress. Lisa felt blessed to have an in-home nurse, a nurse practitioner, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist available to visit her at her Huntsville home.

“I was still in a wheelchair on July 12, 2023, and one of my therapists thought she would take me outside to get some fresh air. I hadn’t been outside since the accident,” whispered Lisa.

It happened so fast.

“I was right behind my house when two dogs ran toward me,” Lisa told me. “One of the pit bulls seemed friendly at first. But once that dog jumped on me, the other pit bull attacked me, too.”

Lisa’s physical therapist called 9-1-1 as Lisa fought off the dogs as best she could. “I never lost consciousness,” Lisa told me. “To this day I remember it all.” The dogs finally let go and ran off. Lisa was rushed to Huntsville Hospital with wounds everywhere.

“I took 372 stiches,” said Lisa.

The long days and nights continued for Lisa Kimbrell. On the fourth day in the hospital Lisa coded. She was brought back, only to become septic.

“I went into septic shock,” said Lisa. “That’s when my graft from the car accident became infected, as did my esophagus. I was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.”

Dr. Caitlin Demarest is a thoracic and lung transplant surgeon at VUMC, an assistant professor of thoracic surgery who is also an expert in esophageal cancer and disease.

“When Lisa came in, things did not look good,” Dr. Demarest told me. “Lisa’s graft was infected and the infection had eroded her esophagus, so we had two issues — the aorta and the esophagus.”

VUMC doctors were honest and open with Lisa’s sister Rebecca Bickerton. “They told us that without surgery, Lisa would not survive,” Rebecca said. “With surgery, they gave Lisa a 25% chance.”

Said Dr. Demarest, “We always try to stay positive, but we didn’t think Lisa could survive.”

“We were told that Lisa’s insides looked as if a bomb went off, but there was no hesitation,” said Rebecca as she talked about the family decision for Lisa to undergo surgery. “We knew it was unlikely that Lisa would live through such a complex procedure, but we told the Vandy doctors to go for it.”

Go for it, they did.

Baby steps. The expert staff at VUMC took it hour by hour. Dr. Christine Deyholos of vascular surgery inserted a stent to stop much of the internal bleeding.

Later, Dr. Demarest teamed with Dr. Ashish Shah, the head of cardiac surgery, to remove Lisa’s aorta. They placed a new graft where Lisa’s old graft had burst. It was a complex descending aortic surgery.

And in an amazing and creative procedure, Dr. Demarest removed Lisa’s eroded esophagus, after which she rebuilt an esophagus by routing it through a hole in Lisa’s neck.

“Lisa’s saliva dripped into a little bag that was attached to her neck,” said Dr. Demarest. (Think of it as a mini colostomy bag).

I wondered how rare something like this is, so I asked Dr. Demarest. “Oh, we do about one a year,” she said, her voice steady and confident.

Again touch-and-go, but Lisa survived the surgery.

“We put Lisa on a cardiopulmonary bypass (machine), which is a heart-lung machine,” said Dr. Demarest. A CPM performs the functions of the heart and the lungs during complex surgeries and recoveries. Dr. Kait Brennan, an assistant professor in anesthesiology, was in charge of seeing that Lisa was cared for in the ICU.

Late 2023 dragged into 2024, and Lisa Kimbrell was down and depressed.

“Lisa knew she had to continue to get better so she could return to Nashville for her esophageal reconstruction surgery — she had lost weight and she was very weak,” said sister Rebecca.

Said Dr. Demarest, “I had seen Lisa in my office numerous times, and I didn’t think she was ready for such a complex procedure.”

It was time for Rebecca to come to the rescue.

“I really got on Lisa hard last spring,” Rebecca told me. “I knew Lisa was not in a good place, so we worked hard to get her in better shape.”

 “Last summer, Lisa walked into my office, and I thought, wow,” said Dr. Demarest. “She was ready for the procedure!”

It was Aug. 18, 2024, and the esophageal surgery was on. “Somehow they put me back together,” said Lisa, her voice sounding a bit froggy. “My feeding tube came out last November, and I’m eating well and enjoying life.”

Lisa Kimbrell continues to work hard to get back to 100%. She’s staying at her sister’s place in Berry, Alabama, where both Lisa and Rebecca feel grateful for great doctors and a great God.

“It’s definitely a God thing,” said Rebecca. “It’s the only way to explain why my sister is still here.”

Oh, and that froggy voice? “I have one final surgery in the coming weeks, and that surgery will repair my vocal cords that were damaged by my ventilator,” Lisa said, sounding upbeat and cheery.

And so goes the story of 5-foot, 108-pound woman who is small in stature but big in believing.

“I know that God has a plan for me, and I have a purpose,” whispered Lisa. “I’m not sure what that purpose is, but I’m going to keep on searching.”

In the meantime, Huntsville’s Lisa Kimbrell will continue to count her blessings.

After all, she’s the Rocket City Miracle.

Rick Karle, who writes a weekly ‘Good News’ story, is a 25-time Emmy winner and a 43-year veteran of broadcast news who has lived and worked in Alabama for 35 years. You can find his work on Facebook at Rick Karle Good News. Send your story suggestions to: [email protected]