Maci McCabe, a native of Breese and a graduate of Mater Dei Catholic High School, is held aloft during a cheerleading routine at a recent Lindenwood University football game in St. Charles, Mo. McCabe is less than a year removed from a serious car accident that threatened to end her life (Submitted photo).
By David Wilhelm
Messenger Editor
Maci McCabe might never feel the same as she did before Feb. 11, 2025.
But considering the odds that appeared to be stacked against her that night as she clung to life, she’s fine with that.
“I feel whole, but I don’t feel like I used to. I feel like a whole new person,” McCabe said Nov. 4 from her dorm room at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., where she is a freshman majoring in biochemistry.
McCabe, a native of Breese who graduated last spring from Mater Dei Catholic High School, then paused, considering her words.
“Does that make sense?” she said. “I have a different body. It’s whole and it’s right, but it’s not what it used to be. I’m still able to do everything; it just doesn’t feel the same as what it used to, even though it’s still correct.
“Everything that I’m doing, there’s a sense of a difference. It doesn’t come as easy. It’s a little more difficult, a little different.”
McCabe was traveling east on old Illinois 50, in front of Central High School in Breese, when her world changed.
It is suspected that one of the tires blew on McCabe’s red Chevrolet Cruise, sending it into the westbound lane and a head-on collision with a Sugar Creek Ambulance.
McCabe has no memory of the accident, or even what had been going on in her life for a few days prior to it. She said she started to become aware of her surroundings about 72 hours after the accident.
“I was still strapped down in the bed,” she said, adding that family members “had been talking to me, telling me everything” as she was hospitalized in St. Louis with more than 30 broken bones and injuries throughout her body that required six significant surgeries.
“I would ask multiple questions at that point,” McCabe said, “but I was also in so much pain that I couldn’t even open my eyes. I was repeatedly asking questions, trying to figure everything out.”
Fast-forward to this summer and fall, and it’s difficult to imagine McCabe experienced so much trauna. Sure, her body still bears the scars that resulted from the accident. But otherwise, McCabe said: “I’m doing everything a normal teenager would. I’m doing great. I’m very thankful for that. … I had to give it my all.”
McCabe said there were difficult days during her recovery, particularly in the first two weeks after the accident when “I had to be holding on to someone’s hands at all times.”
Even before that, McCabe can remember her mom, Denita Mueller, and her stepdad, Dennis Huelsman, trying to provide comfort.
“They played some of our favorite church songs in my ear to try to calm me down,” McCabe said. “That was a really big help, especially on the tougher days when I was in more pain or a little angry with things that were going on. That was the biggest help, listening to that music when I couldn’t open my eyes.”
McCabe was a competitive cheerleader at Mater Dei, and she’s continued on that path at Lindenwood. But after being cleared to participate in preseason tryouts in July, McCabe was dropped during a routine. The metal plate supporting her left collarbone snapped, and the bone was protruding from her neck.
“I had to have another emergency surgery on my shoulder,” McCabe said. “Ever since then, I’ve been kind of touch and go. I’m a little bit more hesitant with what I let my body do before I know I’m fully ready to do it.”
McCabe said being dropped “wasn’t anybody’s fault.
“These are things you sign up for when you’re a cheerleader,” she said. “It was like, ‘OK, I need to be a little bit more hesitant with my body.’ I was doing things I probably shouldn’t have been doing. Even though I was cleared to do them, I definitely should have taken a little bit longer of a recovery time.”
McCabe hasn’t experiened any setbacks in cheerleading since the surgery, and she’s looking forward to competing in the national tournament in April in Daytona, Fla.
“We’re almost done with football season and we’re going into basketball season,” McCabe said. “I’m cleared to do everything: baskets, tumbling, stunts, jumps. I’ve been doing everything all season and haven’t missed a beat. You just have to trust.”
With a chuckle, McCabe added: “I actually just did a pushup for the first time, and it didn’t hurt.”
One of McCabe’s early goals, once her healing had begun in earnest, was to be able to attend prom and walk across the stage to accept her high-school diploma.
McCabe met those objectives, an amazing accomplishment considering she was only three-plus months removed from the accident.
“I was so proud of myself. I was ecstatic,” McCabe said. “It’s hard to believe those were goals of mine. That was (six) months ago. Now my goals are bigger. It’s a crazy transition how that much time has affected where my goals are. … I’m a biochemistry major, so it’s demanding. Hopefully, I’m able to earn the college degree and be a student athlete.”
McCabe remains thankful for the support she received from not only family, but friends and people she didn’t even know. A GoFundMe page raised more than $50,000.
“I don’t know what it was actually like to be in Breese or around our area when it was all going down,” McCabe said. “But I’ve seen videos; I’ve seen pictures. A bunch of people have reached out. All over Facebook, they’ve reached out. I’ve had cards sent to me. I’ve had gift baskets sent to me. It was an amazing sense of comfort.
“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would have pushed as hard. I knew I had all my friends and family, and even people who I didn’t know that well, supporting me. It was a very out-of-body experience, seeing how many people were stepping up and helping, doing what they could. It was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing.’ It was surreal how many people were supportive.”
Some days, McCabe said she doesn’t want to discuss the accident because it can be “stressful, and I just want to cry.”
“But there are other days that I’m like, ‘No, I’m really strong. I’m so glad this happened to me and I was able to move past it, and now I can help other people,’” McCabe said. “I’ve had multiple people reach out to me who are like, ‘I can make it through my one knee surgery if you made it through all of yours. You’re my inspiration.’
“That’s why I talk about it. That’s why I do all the interviews I do. That’s why I like to talk about it — to help other people, and also myself, move forward and (treat) it more as a positive light, not a negative light.”
McCabe said every day feels like a gift.
“Every night,” she said of giving thanks to God. “If not, it’s every morning. I’ll say, ‘I get to wake up in my own bed and get myself out of bed. I don’t need help.’ It’s an amazing feeling, and I’m incredibly thankful.”
