From Hero to Survivor: Wyoming’s Carnegie Medal Winner Fights Back After Near-Fatal Crash

Ryan Pasborg, the Green River man hailed nationwide for rescuing a mother and young boy from a burning house in 2022, is now fighting for his own life after a horrific crash with a semitrailer on Interstate 80 earlier this month.

The 35-year-old — who received the Carnegie Medal for heroism from Gov. Mark Gordon just last year — was nearly killed when his Nissan Titan slammed into the back of a semi that was stopped in the middle of the interstate with no warning signs.

“It was about midnight, I came around a dark corner with my cruise set at 80 mph, and there it was,” Pasborg told Cowboy State Daily.

Air ambulanced to the University of Utah Hospital, Pasborg spent six days in the ICU and underwent multiple surgeries before being discharged last Friday. His list of injuries reads like something out of a trauma ward: a broken sternum, fractured ribs, bleeding on the brain, a punctured lung, a broken femur, a damaged spleen, and a left hand shattered in several places that will require more surgery.

“I tried to go through the windshield,” he said, acknowledging how close he came to not making it out alive.

An EMT who treated him in Rock Springs later told him he’s lucky to be walking at all — or even alive.

Now back home, Pasborg faces the grueling work of recovery. He can’t bend his knee, still needs a walker, and even getting his shoes on Monday morning brought him to tears — a small but powerful milestone.

“In my mentality and my brain-set, I won’t let this hold me back,” he said. “I hope I get mobility back in my leg, play football with the kids, and get back to landscaping. I’ll be back to normal, I’m hoping.”

But the physical pain is only part of the struggle. Pasborg has no health insurance after a divorce earlier this year. Just days out of the hospital, he’s staring down medical bills already topping $81,000, not including the cost of the life-flight helicopter that carried him to Salt Lake City. Without a car, with normal bills piling up, and more surgery ahead, he’s reluctantly set up a GoFundMe page.

“This isn’t my year,” Pasborg said with a half-laugh. “But I’d like people to know life can change in the blink of an eye. I’ve always been willing to give the shirt off my back for somebody, and now I’m hoping the community I love might be able to help me.”

It’s a painful twist of fate for a man celebrated as a hero just two years ago. On Feb. 1, 2022, Pasborg was late for work when he spotted flames consuming a house. With no fire crews on the scene yet, he saw three pajama-clad kids running outside who told him their mom and little brother were still inside. He didn’t think twice.

Crawling through thick smoke, Pasborg found the boy, Weston, by feel and carried him out. He stuffed all the kids into his truck to keep warm before heading back into the inferno to rescue their mother, Stephanie Wadsworth. Badly burned and unconscious, she survived thanks to Pasborg’s CPR and quick drive to emergency responders. That act of bravery earned him the Carnegie Medal — the nation’s highest civilian award for heroism.

Now, as he works to rebuild his own body and life, Pasborg says he’s trying to keep the same spirit of determination that fueled his rescue three years ago.

“I won’t let this hold me back,” he said.

For the Wyoming hero who once saved others, it’s his turn to be lifted by the community.

The original story by Dale Killingbeck for Cowboy State Daily.