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Former Vanderbilt trauma patient starts fellowship for doctors and nurses

Posted at 10:45 PM, May 13, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-13 23:58:16-04

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It was a 2017 crash that injured a Nashville man so badly some thought he had died.

Four years ago, someone accidentally drove into a CrossFit gym in The Nations in the middle of a workout, sending Owen Canavan to the ICU at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Owen Canavan
Owen Canavan injuries

Over the last four years, progress with Canavan has been slow and steady but today, he's back in the CrossFit Breakthrough gym, and thanking the doctors and nurses who saved his life with a generous gift.

Canavan and his parents established a fellowship Fund in Canavan's name at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center trauma unit to help encourage other doctors and nurses in what can be at times a very taxing trauma unit.

Dr. Rodrigo Rodriguez is the first recipient.

"It came at a point in the fellowship where you kind of get a little burnt out, so that was a little bit of energy just to keep on going," Rodriguez said.

Canavan says he's now hoping to achieve an even higher level of fitness than he had before the accident.