St. Luke's hosted its 9th annual 'A Night of Heroes' to celebrate its Trauma Center, now in its 15th year, according to Dr. Peter Thomas, associate director of trauma.

"I can't do this by myself," said Thomas, "Nobody can." He went on to say the night is meant to celebrate everyone in the Trauma center from 2,200 patients they serve each year "to the techs to the physical therapists to the staff."

Christopher Pierson and Sean Kempf, two former patients who began their recoveries at St. Luke's, were honored.

Pierson's story

March 18, 2012, was a clear, sunny day when the PennSTAR Medevac pilot Richard Warner got a call that there was a ski accident on Camelback Mountain. Christopher Pierson, 18, from Lake Hopatcong, N.J., crashed fracturing his spine rendering him paraplegic, every minute was critical. Duke Lindsay, the flight paramedic, and his crew loaded Christopher onto the helicopter and stabilized him while they raced to St. Luke's University Hospital Trauma Center. Their speed, peaking at 143 mph, covered the 25 miles in about nine minutes, according to Warner.

John and Linda Pierson, Christopher's parents, drove 40 minutes to meet their son, who had been given a CT scan, X-rays, and an MRI and was already being prepared for surgery. They stayed with Christopher for four days while he was in the Intensive Care Unit. He has been rehabilitating his injuries since.

The time from injury to surgery was critical for his recovery according to the Piersons. Linda said their doctors in New Jersey did not expect Christopher to regain any of his nerve function. Even when their son's injuries seemed bleakest "St. Luke's always had hope," John said. Eighteen months later, Christopher can walk and is a freshman at Ohio State University.

"I want to thank everyone at St. Luke's," Christopher said. He still does physical therapy three times a week and his experience has led him to major in physical therapy. He said the St. Luke's staff showed him his own "potential to recover" and that there are "plenty of people with the same potential."

Kempf's story

Sean Kempf, 19, from Palmer Township, had volunteered to stay late at his job, at Best Buy, to set up Black Friday displays and was walking home. It was the just after midnight on Thanksgiving Day when he was crossing Freemansburg Avenue and was struck by a car. He was taken in an ambulance to St. Luke's University Hospital and underwent emergency surgery to stabilize his spine.

Kempf had a fractured neck, open fractures on all his limbs, a pelvic fracture, bruised lungs and lacerations on his liver and spleen. He was in a coma for nine days and had six more operations. Kempf stayed in the hospital for 30 days and has been rehabilitating ever since. He graduated from Easton Area HS on time this past June and hopes to start work again at Best Buy in January.

"I'm just like anyone else," said Kempf, adding "You've got to make the best of what you're given and I was given this opportunity for healing."

"A Night of Heroes" was created at St. Luke's by trauma surgeon Dr. James Cipolla and his wife, Dawn, who had experienced a similar program at his previous hospital in Maryland. Attendance has gone from 184 people in the first year to more than 600 people at this year's gala.