By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The memories play back in Brooklynn McIntyre’s mind like a flip book that is missing pages.

Fragments of the story are there, but so many of the details don’t exist.

Maybe it is better that they aren’t there.

For McIntyre’s sake, her story is scary enough.

And the only part of the story that truly matters is that she is alive.

A walking miracle.

With her second life given to her on the same night that it could have so easily been disastrously different.

December 14, 2024.

12:54 a.m.

“I don’t remember the crash at all,” said McIntyre, who is a 2024 graduate of Rootstown and current member of the Youngstown State University women’s track and field team (thrower).

“My body was in shock, and I was not fully conscious. I don’t remember much, but I remember fading in and out, looking up at the stars in the sky and knowing that something must have happened. I remember being freezing cold, spitting out my teeth and rolling over, but that hurt my arm so much so I rolled back over the other way.”

McIntyre was riding in the passenger front seat of a four-door Jeep Wrangler, traveling eastbound on State Route 5 in Ravenna when she was ejected through the top of the vehicle after an oncoming car went left of center and struck the Jeep near the front wheel on the driver’s side.

The head-on impact caused the Jeep to lose control and roll three times.

“The car came out of nowhere and the last thing I remember is just seeing headlights,” said McIntyre, whose boyfriend Tyler Shellenbarger was driving the Jeep.

Shellenbarger, a Mogadore graduate and 2023 wrestling state champion, was largely uninjured and began to act quickly to aid McIntyre. By the time paramedics arrived on the scene of the crash, he had immobilized McIntyre, had her wrapped in his hoodie for warmth and was comforting her.

Shellenbarger refused treatment on the the scene so that he could travel with McIntyre in the ambulance.

McIntyre was immediately taken to University Hospital Portage Medical Center, where they identified that she had three brain bleeds, a broken and badly cut right arm, two fractures in her jaw and had lost multiple teeth.

Initially, doctors and specialists believed that she would require as many as three surgeries to stop the bleeding and swelling in her brain.

However, through a series of seven CT scans, it was determined that the brain bleeds were slowly absorbing back into her brain. By the time McIntyre was released from the hospital four days later, she never had to undergo any surgeries.

There were some lasting injuries, though.

Some physical, but also some mental.

Physically, McIntyre’s right arm required therapy to help regain full range of movement, with her arm stuck in a slightly angled position, and to also improve grip strength that was completely lost because of nerve damage.

Mentally, McIntyre was impacted almost immediately, but maybe not for the reasons most would think.

It was never about her.

Even when she was being transported by stretcher to the ambulance, her thoughts were about her family more than anything else.

“When I heard the paramedic say that they were going to call my dad, I got so scared. I did not want him or my mom to see me like that,” McIntyre said. “When I got to the hospital, the first person I remember coming into the room was my dad, and I saw him crying. I remember looking at him and saying, ‘I’m so sorry.’

“He never left my side from that moment, and he held my hand the whole time. To me, seeing their reactions was the saddest and hardest part for me. I never saw any of the trauma from my perspective. It was about them and how they were handling it. Maybe that was part of my coping mechanism.”

One thing is for sure, she was not coping alone.

Her room was rarely empty.

Between her parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends, as well as her extended family like the Rootstown girls basketball team, kept her room forever full.

“It was such an incredible thing to see how much people cared about me. It is something you know, but in a moment like that, it was such a powerful thing to see and feel,” McIntyre said. “The entire Rootstown school signed a big card and had it delivered. The President of Youngstown State called me. Teammates were texting me all the time. My support system was so big and so full of love.”

Not long after, though, McIntyre struggled.

She was still recovering and was working diligently with her physical therapy, but, understandably, she had not been cleared to participate or compete with the Penguins.

It left her in a place of isolation.

“I did not feel like an athlete. Not at all. I did not feel like I was part of the team,” McIntyre said. “I was not allowed to practice until the end of May (2025). It was so hard, because I was training separate from my teammates. Everything I was doing was by myself. I lost some connections on the team. I felt very isolated and away from everyone. To be honest, the end of the year was really hard for me. At one point, I had to ask myself, ‘Would I be OK with everything if I didn’t do track’.”

Eventually, it was the same determination that had always allowed her to stand out amongst her peers that pulled her from her slump.

“I finally said to myself, ‘No, this is not you. You are not going to mope’,” McIntyre said. “I had to remember all that I have. I wrote on a board all of things I was grateful for, and I looked at it every day. It really helped me. I think I needed that. I needed to slow down and sit down with my thoughts.

“The hardest part was that I had always had such a dream to be on the path that I had been on before the accident,” McIntyre added. “I had things all planned out, and I was in control of working to get there. God told me, ‘No,’ and he put me on a different path.”

A miracle path.

McIntyre’s attentive training allowed her to meet milestone after milestone, and she was resolute to compete for the 2026 season.

“I trained, I worked in the weight room, I did everything I needed to do,” McIntyre said.

Including an event change to the hammer throw.

She was a high school state-placer and recruited in the shot put (3rd in state during senior season) and discus (5th), but her still weak grip strength has kept her from competing in the events.

“My goal was simple for this year. I wanted to get to the conference tournament (YSU won both the Horizon League’s indoor and outdoor titles). No matter what my mark was, I wanted to be there. I wanted to be part of the team. Next year, I want to actually place, but this year was all about proving a point.

“That I am still here, and I have made it.”

Sometimes, it can be the simplest things that matter the most.

In McIntyre’s case, hers hits on the highest emotional level.

She is here.