She shouldn’t be alive. The two cars hit with the force of 154 miles per hour. The impact broke almost every bone in her body, including her neck in two places. She had a severed ear canal, a collapsed lung, a brain bleed and a level two traumatic brain injury. Then she was in a coma for 100 days.
Chloe Gross shouldn’t be alive.
When her family got to the hospital, they were greeted with clergy, not doctors. After numerous surgeries — and while still in a comatose state — Chloe was released.
“We brought her home to die,” Brad Gross said about his 19-year-old daughter, who graduated from Indian Lake High School in 2024. Chloe had started studying cosmetology when an impaired driver going the wrong way on U.S. Route 33 slammed into her car head-on. The accident happened near State Route 540 on Nov. 2, 2024.
The doctors said if she survived, she wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or eat for a year. She was on 15 medications, including two for depression. Her parents decided to take her off all of them except aspirin, which she needed as a blood thinner.
Slowly, amazingly, Chloe started to improve. In less than a week of being home, she said her first word. Her stepmother, Dee Dee, has dedicated herself to being Chloe’s full-time caregiver. But it’s a long road to recovery … and not an inexpensive one.
With that in mind, Lewistown-Trinity United Methodist Church (LTUMC) and their Women of Faith ministry turned their annual ice cream social into a fundraiser for Chloe, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the young girl’s help and care.
And the community showed up, with 260 people donating over $4,500 and counting. Attendees enjoyed shredded chicken and barbecue pork sandwiches, salads, desserts and, of course, ice cream—more specifically, vanilla and orange pineapple.
“It was a very successful event,” church member Diane Lewis said. “We ran out of desserts but, fortunately, not ice cream. We so appreciate all those who came to the social and gave donations to sweet Chloe.”
For Brad, Dee Dee, Chloe and her younger sister Peyton, the near-tragedy has been life-changing in other ways. Chloe had never been a believer, but she asked God to help her walk again. It affected Brad as well.
“I had never been a person of God, but I am now,” he admitted.
“We were afraid because she was so broken,” Dee Dee stated. Brad added, “You have to feel pain to know you’re alive. But she doesn’t feel pain anymore.”
Chloe’s future is uncertain, her dad contending she won’t know what she’s capable of until she can walk again. But she’s thankful for what she has and, her family said, she’s always happy. Her near-constant smile during Friday’s event was evidence of that.
If you would like to contribute to Chloe’s care, send your check to LTUMC, PO Box 90, Russells Point, Ohio, 43348, with “Chloe” in the memo line.
For this family, which has worked so hard to save this young girl’s life, it comes down to love, compassion and opportunity. “If you have that,” Brad concluded, “you can accomplish anything.”
