Beloved Utah CrossFit coach gravely ill in hospital after freak golf cart accident during vacation to Mexico

A well-known Utah CrossFit gym owner is fighting for her life after a golf cart ride during a tropical getaway in Mexico left her with a traumatic brain injury. 

Kerrie Olsen, 39, owner of Skol CrossFit in Riverton, was on a golf course in Puerto Vallarta last month when the cart she was riding in with two friends suddenly went airborne and plunged nose-first into a sand trap, according to ABC 4 News.

‘We were just driving around talking and laughing and just reminiscing,’ Annie Stagg, Kerrie’s best friend, told Fox 13 News. ‘Next thing you know, we’re in hell.’ 

Kerrie was left unresponsive and rushed to a Mexican ICU, where doctors performed emergency surgery for a subdural hematoma that caused significant bleeding – up to 16mm – and a 7mm shift of her brain to the left due to pressure.

Still in a medically induced coma, her family and friends are now racing to bring her back to the US, where costs require upfront cash – reaching ‘tens of thousands of dollars a day.’

‘It was a moment of enjoying life and enjoying each other to tragedy in a blink of an eye,’ Annie told ABC News. ‘It’s a really hopeless feeling. I would do anything to get her home and to her family.’

‘We love Kerrie so much and her husband Paul would do anything for her,’ she added.

‘Paul calls her “her sunshine” and she is. She is everybody’s sunshine. She puts good in the world every single day, like every single day.’

Only weeks ago, Kerrie set off for Mexico with her husband, Paul Olsen, 45, and some friends, expecting a fun escape and a break from everyday responsibilities.

It wasn’t until she got on a six-seater golf cart with her friend Annie and Annie’s husband, Jamie Stagg, simply taking in the surrounding scenery, that everything changed. 

‘We were enjoying our time on the golf course with friends, celebrating each other, celebrating my birthday, and we were driving along the course and literally just came over the hill,’ Jamie told ABC 4.

‘There was a sand trap, that you can’t see and next thing you know, we’re in the air, nose-first into the sand trap. That’s kind of where I lost memory.’ 

In a split second, Annie fractured four ribs, punctured a lung, and injured her ankle, while her husband, Jamie, suffered a severe head wound and was bleeding profusely, according to KSLTV 5 News.

‘It was such polarizing emotions of pure joy and then pure terror,’ Annie told the outlet.

Jamie quickly realized Kerrie was the most seriously injured in the chaotic aftermath, as he and his wife – both bleeding – immediately focused on helping their friend. 

‘Coming to, looking over and seeing Kerrie on the grass and not moving was nerve-wracking, but myself, I was pretty in and out, bleeding pretty bad,’ Jamie told ABC.

Annie added: ‘I had to leave the scene to go find help for us, and I didn’t know if I’d see her again,’ according to Fox 13.

Clinton Poduska and his wife, another couple on the trip, came upon the scene while riding by on their golf cart and used it to quickly get help for Kerrie and the rest. 

‘It’s just things you never want to see your loved ones go through, the torture that was in Paul’s eyes and trying to care for his wife – just devastating,’ Clinton told the outlet.

Kerrie, who was unconscious from the impact, was rushed to a hospital in Mexico and immediately underwent emergency brain surgery, which her family said ‘saved her life,’ according to a GoFundMe page. 

‘She is still in the ICU, on a ventilator, in a medically induced coma while doctors work to stabilize her,’ the fundraiser read.

Sicily Romano-Nelson, a coach at Skol CrossFit, told Fox that ‘healing in Mexico is a little bit different.’

‘Right now, Paul is only allowed in the room for, like, anywhere from an hour to two hours a day, and then the rest of the time, he literally is looking through a crack in the door into the room at his wife,’ Sicily said.

Her family is working to bring her back home, though the severity of her injuries has made the process both challenging and financially overwhelming. 

The mother-of-three requires a medevac flight with a full ICU team on board, an enormous expense on its own, not to mention continued hospitalization, rehabilitation, follow-up care and a long recovery ahead. 

‘Because the accident happened in Mexico, the hospital requires payment upfront, in cash, and the costs are running tens of thousands of dollars a day,’ read the GoFundMe, created by Sicily.

‘They have insurance, but international claims take time to process and reimbursement is delayed, which means everything has to be covered out of pocket right now while they fight to get her stable.’

‘It is a lot. It is a lot for any family, let alone one navigating the scariest days of their lives at the same time,’ it added.

Kerrie’s condition can shift quickly from stable to unstable. If she takes a turn for the worse, she may not be able to fly home – a situation that seemingly already happened on Monday. 

On Sunday, an update to the fundraiser announced that Kerrie would be going home on Wednesday, two days after surgery to replace a section of her skull. 

‘When they tried to reduce her sedation, she immediately tried to pull the breathing tube out herself, our girl is a fighter through and through,’ it read. ‘When they ask her if she is in pain, she waves her hand side to side, so-so.’

But on Monday, the coach announced that the surgery was no longer scheduled, leaving the timeline for her return home unknown. She said that what has not changed is that Kerrie is still fighting for her life. 

‘This can happen to anybody. I never, ever, ever thought… we’re not reckless people,’ Annie told Fox in tears.

‘We’re so cautious, and Kerrie is such sunshine and the first one to help anybody. I just, I just need her home and I need her okay.’

Kerrie’s CrossFit community in Utah is also reeling, as she built a close-knit following in Riverton after taking over a small gym years ago and transforming it into SKOL, which she owns with her husband. 

‘Anyone who has walked through those doors knows that. It’s a family. It’s a community. It’s a place people go because it’s where they feel most like themselves,’ the GoFundMe read.

‘Kerrie knows every member by name. She knows their kids. She knows what they are going through outside the gym walls, and she shows up for them in ways most gym owners never would.’

‘She celebrates their PRs harder than they do. She notices when someone goes quiet and reaches out. She has built something that runs on real love for the people in it,’ it added.

The Daily Mail has reached out to SKOL CrossFit for comment.