Mardi Gras is supposed to be a fun celebration filled with parades, floats, masks, beads, and in all honesty, craziness. On what was supposed to be an exciting day for popular hosts Ty Bentli, Kelly Ford, and Chuck Wicks from the radio show Ty, Kelly, & Chuck Mornings, instead turned into the scariest day of their lives.
While driving to a Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, Louisiana to be Grand Marshall in one of the parades, the radio hosts, as well as their producer Glenn, got into a terrible car accident due to a bad rain storm. They hit a large puddle, hydroplaned, and landed in a ditch full of water after the car rolled twice.
After the initial shock, Wicks recalls his neck getting stiffer by the second.
“Throughout the entire process I remember my neck just getting stiffer and stiffer and between the shock of everything and being soaked wet from rolling through the water filled ditch I couldn’t stop shaking,” he wrote on Facebook on March 1 detailing the horrific crash.
He was rushed to the Emergency Room, where they “set [him] up for immediate CAT Scan and MRI“. His doctor took one look at the results and informed Wicks he was lucky to be walking. The accident left him with a fractured skull and a cervical vertebrae fracture in his C2 region.
“I’m lucky I’m alive and not paralyzed,” he wrote. “I will be wearing a Neck Brace for about three months with a lot of discomfort for awhile. It’s gonna take some time to recover. This isn’t a I’ll feel better in a week type of deal. But I’m extremely lucky. And I’m so glad that Ty Kelly and Glenn are ok. So be safe out there. Don’t take anything for granted.”
After a few weeks of rest and social media silence, Wicks finally updated us on his recovery on Thursday (March 23).
“Getting better and better with each day,” he captioned a photo of himself in a neck brace with a thumbs up. “Thank you for all your well wishes…I’m lucky to be here…walking and talking.”
He also revealed that after another month in his neck brace, he will hopefully be able to start physical therapy for his neck.
https://www.facebook.com/chuckwicks/photos/a.475956748269.262468.5909533269/10155166812408270/?type=3&theater
For the first time since the accident, Wicks stopped by the morning show to visit, and they took some time to make the studio extra safe for him – by covering it in bubble wrap! We’re glad he has a great sense of humor. We are extremely happy Wicks is recovering well and will continue to keep him our prayers.
Watch his reaction to the bubble wrapped studio in the video below.