Local 12-year-old girl shows relentless strength during RZR crash that nearly severed her hand

IDAHO FALLS — If you’re looking for an example of perseverance, look no further than 12-year-old Chloe Hanish.

To celebrate Father’s Day this year, the Hanish family and a group of their fellow military families continued their yearly tradition of a camping trip near Featherville.

“We’ve been doing this for about five years now, and we get a big group of military families together,” explained Chase Hanish, a military veteran, current Idaho State Police trooper, and father to Chloe.

Hanish says that he, his daughter, and a few friends decided to stay one more day and embark on a fun ride on their side-by-sides.

Chloe was driving a RZR 200, a youth model of a side-by-side.

“We made a little path, a little track for them to rip around in — and she’s a phenomenal driver,” Chase said. “She’s been driving go-karts since she was 5.”

As Chloe was riding around the campsite, Chase said she had come across a spot where someone had dug a hole for their camping trailer’s wheels to sit in, so they could level it out.

“She caught one of those holes and tipped over the driver’s side roof, and ended up landing on the passenger side,” Chase said. “We’ve trained her on what to do, how to react, and keep your hands on the steering wheel, or cross them across your chest, but when she caught that hole, I think it ripped the steering wheel out of her hands.”

According to Chase, in order to catch herself, Chloe reached out with her left hand, which was then crushed by the roll cage. The pressure broke bones in her hand and almost severed four of her fingers.

“I was about 50 feet away, and I watched it happen,” Chase said. “When I went over — I was in a dead sprint to her — and before I even made it to her, she had unbuckled, fallen to the passenger side, and had the mindset to shut the side-by-side off before climbing out the windshield — all with one hand (injured). It was something that I don’t believe a lot of grown men would be able to do.”

In the midst of the chaos, Chase says he was astounded by his daughter’s strength and determination, especially at such a young age.

“That’s the one memory out of that whole traumatic day that I want nothing more than for her to be known for, and for her to remember, is the strength that it took her to do that,” Chase said.

Chloe was transported by medical helicopter to Boise, where she was rushed into surgery to stabilize her hand. She was then flown to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City for further care.

After a month, Chloe was finally discharged — but the story wasn’t quite over.

At her first follow-up appointment, doctors found an infection in her hand.

“We knew it was going to be risky, with the dust and the dirt and the amount of damage that was done to her hand,” Chase said. “We knew that there was a high probability (of infection).”

Chloe was then put through another surgery to remove the infection. As of mid-September, she’s had six surgeries on her hand.

“She’ll have a seventh (surgery) in December to do a tendon release,” Chase said, “to kind of release her tendons from the scar tissue and clean up the scar tissue.”

Primary Children’s Hospital also added an infectious disease doctor to Chloe’s team of physicians, who was able to take a sample of the infection for testing.

“She has a PICC line, and we’re doing antibiotics every eight hours, pretty much for the last two and a half months,” Chase said. “It’s taken a toll on her, with getting up in the middle of the night to do this IV and all of that.”

Because of the infection, the Hanish family has been making weekly trips to Salt Lake City for follow-up appointments and further treatment.

After receiving skin grafts on the pads of her fingers, Chloe has recently started physical therapy to try to increase the range of motion in her.

Chase says Chloe is also a talented pianist, and throughout her recovery has not let the injury stop her from doing what she loves. In fact, one day, Chloe decided to play the piano at Primary Children’s Hospital with only one hand.

As the school year begins again, Chase says the family is working to ensure Chloe can still do everything she wants.

“She loves being at school. Her friends have been super supportive,” Chase said. “She is very conscious about (her hand), and that’s the mental health part that she’ll have a long recovery in as well. And that’s not something that a whole lot of people talk about.”

Through it all, Chase says he is incredibly proud of his daughter’s strength, especially after learning she wants to use this experience to help other injured kids.

“It’s hard to see your child in so much pain, and fight this hard, but I couldn’t be more proud of her for everything she’s been able to accomplish,” Chase said. “Once this is all said and done, she wants to go back to Primary Children’s and talk to kids about the fears of surgeries, and the worry and the unknown fear, because that was something that she had to get over herself.”

Further into her recovery, Chloe plans to schedule time at the hospital to talk about her experience with other children who are going through their first surgeries, just as she did.

“It’s definitely a proud moment, because that’s not something that we’ve specifically taught or instilled in her,” Chase said. “It’s just something that she does and who she is.”

Throughout this journey, Hanish says his co-workers at the Idaho State Police have been incredibly supportive, allowing him to take time off to be with his daughter and setting up a fund for Chloe’s medical expenses and the expenses the family will incur for traveling back and forth from Salt Lake City.

If you’d like to donate to the ISP Venmo account set up for Chloe’s medical expenses, you can donate here.

Chase, who retired last year after serving 20 years in the military, says it’s been extremely humbling to have so much support from a family he feels like he just joined.

“To have ISP just completely take us in and support us with everything, even though I’ve only been on the road for a few short months before all of this happened, it’s been absolutely incredible — and has made the transition out of the military so much easier,” he said.