88 | www. Char l es tonPhys i c i ans . com | www.Hea l thL i nksChar l es ton . com A Unique Case: ROAD TO RECOVERY PETE BAZZLE’S STORY By Denise K. James It was an atypical day from the beginning. For one thing, Pete Bazzle and his wife, Penny, usually do everything together – but that day, Pete had a doctor’s appointment in Walterboro, while Penny was heading to lunch with her cousin in Summerville. After his doctor’s visit concluded, Pete was driving home and got as far as Grover, an unincorporated part of Dorchester County, when he was suddenly hit head-on by a car he didn’t even see coming. “I didn’t see the car, but I felt like something was wrong – like something bad was about to happen,” he shared. “Then I saw a flash of light, like sunlight, and everything went black.” Pete regained consciousness briefly while the paramedics were on the scene, just long enough to ask if they could get him out of the car and to tell them his wife was in Summerville. He isn’t sure how long he was awake before he passed out again – the medevac helicopter came and took him to Trident Hospital, where he would not wake up again for a while. Upon landing, Pete’s daughter – who drove Penny to the hospital and had just arrived – ran toward the helicopter, asking frantically whether Pete Bazzle happened to be onboard. The next 24 hours were “a blur,” said Penny, and doctors were uncertain whether Pete would make it. “The doctor came out and said to me, 'It would be easier to tell you what is not broken rather than what is broken,’” she recalled. “They said it was iffy whether he would live or not. He had broken bones from his neck to his toes. Sixteen broken ribs, broken neck, collarbone, left leg, right leg – bruised heart, collapsed lung, torn intestine, right foot damaged, bone sticking out …” The next morning, doctors told Penny that her husband had survived the night. But Pete still had a long journey ahead, starting with two-and-a-half weeks in the intensive care unit. Details about the accident were slowly surfacing; bystanders had seen what happened. The Bazzles learned a felon had allegedly kidnapped a woman in Florida and dropped her off in Georgia, then, while heading south on Highway 15 in Dorchester County, lost control of the vehicle and veered into the left lane, hitting Pete in the process. Both cars had flipped upside down and caught fire. “Pete was covered in gasoline when the paramedics got him out,” Penny noted. A retired nurse herself, Penny was amazed and relieved at the level of care her husband received at Trident Hospital. She called his care team “personal and compassionate,” praising one nurse in particular, Stephanie, who “went above and beyond to comfort Pete.” “He was meant to be at Trident,” she mused. “Our daughter lives just a few miles away, and I was able to stay with her for four months. And I didn’t have to battle traffic.” Yes, it took four months from the day of the wreck – April 15, 2021 – to when Pete finally finished his rehabilitation in August. After a month in the hospital, Pete was released to start rehab Photo courtesy of Rod Whiting.
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