Community supports first responder amid wife’s hospitalization

DRIPPING SPRINGS — Members of the community, including those in Hays and Travis counties, are showing their support for David Gibson — a former Dripping Springs resident who now works for Travis County Fire Rescue — after his wife, Coral, was severely injured in a vehicular collision on U.S. 290 between Henly and Dripping Springs in May.

In the collision, Coral sustained cranial, spinal, leg and wrist fractures, along with trauma to the left eye. She was receiving treatment at St. David's South Austin Medical Center until early June.

Coral Gibson[/caption]

“Coral was always there to cover my back. But now we're in a situation, because she was my rock and now I have to be hers. There's that constant voice in the back of your head [that says], ‘Give up, you can't do this, you got to quit,’” David said. “At the end of the day, she cannot continue on without my help, and so I got to remain here, be an advocate for her [and] hold myself together. It's going to be a rough road. It's going to be a long road. We're looking at potentially not having her home for five months, if not longer … She's in the trauma care unit and we're going to try and get her to the rehab center in Houston, but she could be there for four months straight.”

She was transported to Memorial Hermann in Houston last weekend for inpatient rehab. It’s still unknown how long she will be in the hospital, but it could take several months.

It takes a village to continue living day by day while a loved one is in the hospital, and David has felt nothing but support from the community during this time.

“They've been phenomenal. We've got people that are setting up a 5K in Coral’s name, I think it’s something like Coral’s Butterly Dash 5K. Right now, it's planned to be a virtual event on Sept. 30, but there is a good chance that, with the type of response we're getting, it may become an in-person event and have an actual sanctioned 5K in the Dripping Springs area,” David said. “People are setting up GoFundMes, meal trains and things like that … We've seen a phenomenal response from people in the community, friends, family, as well as other fire department agencies as they're trying to support me as a fellow member of the service.”

David also credited the medical staff for their support and for being advocates for their patients.

“The medical staff has been absolutely fabulous. There’s been no question whether they're an advocate for the patient or not. They also do appreciate my help as a medical provider and my understanding of the medications they are giving, the treatments they are giving her and the surgery she's going through, as well as just general patient care,” David explained.

“I'm over here assisting where I can to transfer her from bed to bed or bed to chair or whatever," he continued. "It really makes it easier on them being able to be that patient advocate or that spouse, but they've done everything they can to remain great in the patient care side as well as trying to push her in a direction that will get her approved for the best rehab center in the state, if not the country.”

Coral was a personal teacher, where she would homeschool children in Lakeway, and she would also tutor online part-time. Occasionally, she would substitute teach part-time at Comal County ISD.

David emphasized that Coral is a strong, intelligent woman and a fighter.

“[She] actually went into high school at the age of 12. She graduated at the age of 16 and moved out of [her] home at the age of 17. In 2013, she went to Conway, Arkansas to attend Hendrix College and she got a four-year degree in kinesiology in two years,” he said. “She's the smartest woman I’ve ever met and she's basically a walking calculator. She's able to do trigonometry and calculus in her mind without showing the work. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, one of the most prestigious scholar fraternities in the United States. I just kind of wanted to push how intelligent this woman is and how much of a fighter she is.”

While they no longer live in Dripping Springs, David and Coral still have ties in Hays County including family, friends and fellow first responders.

Those who wish to help the Gibson family can do so by donating to the GoFundMe at or the meal train at .

Products can also be purchased at , where all the proceeds will go to support David and Coral during this time.