LIVINGSTON PARISH — More than a year after a deadly boat crash took the lives of two people and left her severely injured, Jillian Bernard has taken another step toward healing through the amputation of one of her legs. She is also hoping to help future crash victims through the donation of her leg to train search and rescue dogs and their teams.
The crash took place just after midnight on July 28, 2024, when a 25-foot pontoon party barge and a 25-foot Sea Fox boat collided near Kings Point in Livingston Parish. It resulted in the deaths of Thuy Gustin and Chase Sharkey, while six others were hospitalized in Hammond.
At the time, Bernard suffered multiple fractures, including three hip fractures, numerous femur breaks, and a crushed knee joint. Unable to swim after the collision, she had to wait for help to arrive.
The leg fracture she suffered is rare and happens during accidents involving severe trauma, Bernard’s family shared. She suffered from a “displaced comminuted fracture of shaft of right femur, subsequent encounter for closed fracture with nonunion.”
“There’s just no repairing the femur or knee with the amount of damage that occurred,” her sister Jenna Bond told UWK. “She had a decision to live with a limp and severe pain, or push for a better quality of life.”
In October 2024, on her birthday, Bernard underwent her fourth leg surgery. The procedure aimed to remove scar tissue preventing her from bending her knee beyond 15 percent, said Bond.
However, during that surgery, doctors discovered additional damage. Excessive scar tissue had fused surrounding tissue, muscle, and skin to the metal plates and rods previously implanted to stabilize her leg. Skin grafts, including a donor graft, were needed to repair the damaged areas.
According to Bernard, even a year later, her leg was severely damaged and showed “irreversible damage” with persistent pain daily. Even after second opinions and other attempts at correcting the damage, she was looking at a permanent severe limp, among other long-term effects.
In addition to a limp, other injuries and effects began to emerge: Bernard was showing signs of debilitating arthritis and weakness, and was heading for a lifetime of wheelchair-only mobility, her family shared.
‘I’m doing this for Thuy and Chase’
On Oct. 20, Bernard underwent surgery to amputate her badly injured right leg above the knee at the fracture, along with removing the hardware from her hip to the surgical site.
Before surgery, Bernard reached out to a friend who does search and recovery in accidents like the one she went through about the possibility of donating the amputated limb. The hospital gave clearance for the donation to a K9 Cadaver team.
Bernard donated her leg to Team Texas HRD & Tracking K9s Search & Recovery Team, based out of Troy, Texas, to be used as a training aid for cadaver dogs. The nonprofit team works all across the U.S.
“They use human remains, limbs, bones, and tissue to train cadaver K9s on,” she said.
Team Texas K9s certify other search teams and local law enforcement K9 handlers with the remains, she added. They also use the larger body parts (such as arms, legs and feet) in water training in different depths.
“Victims of accidents like ours and the victims’ families that have to endure the surrounding trauma of searching for their loved ones, should have the resources they need,” Bernard told UWK. “This starts with the correctly trained rescuers/K9s to handle such emergencies.”
While the amputation was for her physical health, she said that donating the limb meant more: “The amputation was to improve my quality of life but, the donation…I’m doing this for Thuy and Chase. They deserve to be remembered as the wonderful humans they were.”
Bernard is hoping her act of donation will both inspire and help others.
“Future amputees have options. Donations like this are crucial to ensuring the training is as realistic as possible. This is real life stuff and situations; everyone deserves to come home.”
Bernard’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help raise money towards prosthetics and continued healing.
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