Jasmin’s journey: Wimauma girl makes ‘profound’ recovery after tragic crash

WIMAUMA — Photos of a wedding, a baptism and a vacation trip reveal the closeness of a Mexican family in a home built by its patriarch.

Jasmin Cervantes-García takes two or three steps in the living room with a walker. Her oldest brother, Cruz, stands by her side. It’s here where Jasmin, 13, and Cruz follow a rigorous weekly routine so that she can attend therapy sessions 40 miles away in St. Petersburg.

Jasmin was the sole survivor of a head-on crash with a charter bus last summer in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. She was returning to Tampa with her parents and grandparents after a weeklong vacation when their pickup was hit by a wrong-way charter bus driver. Every year, the family traveled to Mexico to visit relatives and close friends. It was a tradition.

Killed in the crash were her father, J. Cruz, 50; her mother, María Angélica Cervantes, 45; and her grandparents, Enrique, 74, and Alicia Cervantes, 72. More than 21 bus passengers were injured, according to Mexican police.

Jasmin was hospitalized with severe brain injuries. She was later flown to St. Petersburg to recover.

At 29, Cruz is the oldest of four siblings. He took on the roles of father and mother to Jasmin after the crash. No one in the family was surprised. No one in the family forced him.

“Nothing is more important than Jasmin,” he said.

Cruz quit his job as a crane operator. Every day, he and his sister get up just before dawn. He helps Jasmin change her clothes. He fixes her hair. He makes her feel prettier.

On weekends, Cruz cooks a special breakfast for his sister.

Jasmin’s aunt, Cindy García, said the family had never faced such a setback. A nurse and a mother of four, García brought her niece home from Mexico after Jasmin was hospitalized in critical condition for nearly three weeks.

The family organized a GoFundMe and collected enough money to pay for a Tampa air ambulance company to fly Jasmin home.

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“It was the only way to save her life,” said García.

“She’s a fighter”

Jasmin was ready to start eighth grade classes at Sumner School, a new school in Riverview that opened 2½ years ago, when tragedy struck. Her classmates miss Jasmin and talk about her often with their teacher, said assistant principal Natalie McClain. She described Jasmin as a spunky young girl who was active in sports, especially volleyball.

“She loved to hang with her friends, and she always had a big smile that would shine in the hallway,” McClain said. “Anytime a friend needed help, she was the first one there.”

Jasmin’s volleyball coach, Karen “Coach K” Martin, met Jasmin in the fall of 2021. She was 12, beautiful, talented. Martin remembers Jasmin’s love for volleyball from the first day she started coaching her. Jasmin was shy, but over time her personality “shone through,” Martin said.

Jasmin was one of her outside hitters, eager to play and develop her skills. If Martin needed someone to fill other positions on the court, Jasmin was one of the first to volunteer. She was full of energy, joking and laughing with her teammates.

Martin was heartbroken when she found out about Jasmin’s car crash.

“How could life be so unfair?” she thought.

Jasmin still has a long way to go, “but her resilience and perseverance can get her where she needs to be,” Martin said.

“Thank God she’s a fighter.”

“Desire to live”

Jasmin spent almost four months after the June 23 crash recovering at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Her aunt, García, saw her niece’s fighting spirit. She’s touched by her affection for her siblings and her love for Shila, a Chihuahua that Jasmin’s parents had given her as a gift.

“Nothing has taken away her desire to live,” said García.

Jasmin’s family is eager to see her with the same energy she had so she can return to playing volleyball or running around the backyard with her cousins or dancing “corridos” in her favorite cowgirl boots.

That will take time. Last September, she was moved to a rehab facility in Jacksonville, where she stayed for almost three weeks regaining her strength and learning to walk again. Two months later, she began attending hourlong therapy sessions at Johns Hopkins from Monday to Friday.

Seven months after the accident, physical and speech therapy have become a full-time job for Jasmin.

The goal is to return her to a normal life. And, even after sustaining severe brain damage and being on a ventilator for several weeks, Jasmin has started to recover her abilities, such as walking slowly for short periods of time and eating solid foods. She can pronounce some words and recognize objects such as a spoon, a cup, a knife.

Despite her limitations, Jasmin’s outgoing personality comes through as she smiles constantly, trying to prove she’s doing her best.

Jennifer Criscola, a pediatric critical care physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, said Jasmin has overcome many challenges.

When Jasmin arrived at the hospital, she was suffering from traumatic brain injuries. She could not talk or follow commands, the doctor said. Her jaw was broken, and in the beginning, she was relying on a breathing tube.

“With time and extensive therapy, she drastically improved,” Criscola said. “In fact, I think her improvement was one of the most profound we’ve ever seen, and we’re so proud of how far she’s come.”

Relearning to talk

It is Saturday, just before 9 a.m., and everything is ready to start the day at home. In the dining room, Cruz has set up a breakfast table for his little sister, Jasmin, with toast, fruit, milk, orange juice, and hard-boiled eggs cut in half.

Sitting in a wheelchair, Jasmin, 13, smiles at her brother. She wants to eat bread.

“There is no rush,” said Cruz.

Jasmin’s speech language pathologist, Paige Cothran-Hampton, works with Jasmin to improve her comprehension and speech. She knows it’s not easy. Sometimes it can be difficult to think of the right words when constructing a sentence. A brain injury can vary widely depending on the severity and the affected area. She suffered injuries to her left frontal lobe, the area that controls memory, language and movement.

“But Jasmin is improving a lot,” Cothran-Hampton said. “There are several levels of work, and we are making progress.”

During a recent therapy session at Johns Hopkins, Cothran-Hampton interacted with Jasmin and her brother around a table. They played games like “silly faces” and “shark bite” to practice from facial expressions and emotions, to build visual and motor skills.

They laughed together.

They ate cookies.

They gave each other high-fives.

“Let’s put the shark away, just for a second,” said Cothran-Hampton.

“What is this, Jasmin?” she asked, holding a card with a photo of a dish.

“A plate,” Jasmin said.

“And we use a plate for … ?” Cothran-Hampton asked.

“Food,” said Jasmin.

“Good job! So now: Who needs a plate?” said Cothran-Hampton.

Jasmin learned the value of being strong and optimistic from her parents. Now, those lessons are serving as an inspiration for the entire family, said Jasmin’s aunt.

”We’re thankful that Jasmin is with us. She will never be alone.”