Cooper Roy is ambitious. At 20 years old, he’s in college, serving his church, and working with Freeway Ministries, an organization that helps ex-prisoners and addicts. Things weren’t always this great; he’s had to personally get right with God, too.
Roy experienced mental struggles in high school, even fighting suicidal thoughts. While professing faith in Christ, he experimented with smoking and alcohol. But through faithful preaching and discipleship, Roy put aside those sins. With a growing relationship with God, Roy’s life was on a great path.
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After high school, he began working for a construction company. He learned Spanish to share the gospel with his Hispanic coworkers. It looked like God was doing great things with his life.
Life-changing moment
But on Sept. 24, 2024, his life changed forever — and he doesn’t even remember it.
He woke up in a hospital bed. He couldn’t see, couldn’t talk and couldn’t move. Above all else, his whole body hurt. “It was drastic pain,” he remembers. He heard the voices of his family in the room.
The only way he could communicate was through writing. He made a writing motion with his one working arm, and the staff brought a pen and paper. “What happened?” he scrawled across the page, unable to even see the letters he was drawing.
His family was just happy he could communicate, no matter how illegible the words were. “You were in a car wreck,” they responded. “You’re a miracle.”
The words bounced around Roy’s head, repeating themselves over and over. He put pen to paper as best he could. “Gloria a Dios,” he wrote. “Glory to God” in Spanish. His brother saved the piece of paper.
Piecing together what happened
Between surgeries over the next couple of days, Roy gradually pieced together what happened. He had been traveling home from the 2024 For the Church Conference in Kansas City. On the way home, the group from Crossway Baptist Church, Springfield, Missouri, stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. From that point until he woke up in the hospital, his mind is blank.
The group safely reached Crossway Baptist Church, where Roy hopped into his car for the drive home toward Fair Grove. At 9:50 p.m., a southbound driver in a 2014 Ford F-150 crossed the Highway 65 median and collided with Roy’s Honda Civic head-on. The crash completely obliterated Roy’s car.
The next morning, the pickup driver was pronounced dead, and Roy was fighting for his arm, his leg, and his life. He was in and out of surgeries constantly, under anesthesia and back out. People were always visiting, and he was steadily monitored. Even while battling pain and infections, the old thoughts from high school never came back. “Not once did I think, ‘Oh, this is going to be horrible if I die,’” he remembers. “I go right there with the Apostle Paul in Phil 1:21, where he says, ‘to live is Christ, but to die is gain.’”
“If I’m in a hospital bed about and die, I’ll say ‘Gloria a Dios’ just as much as I would if I was staying alive.”
It was 5 days until he could finally talk. He called his parents in and asked for the clipboard and paper. But instead of writing, he said, “Mom, I don’t need this. I can talk!”
“She was like, ‘What?’ and she flipped out,” he remembers with a smile.
During the hospital stay, Roy’s friends, family and church family rallied around him. The many men that invested in his life provided strength and encouragement. He remembers a near constant stream of visitors whenever they were allowed. “I’m not a person that wants to be alone, so I enjoyed every person that came in,” he recalled.
After eight days, he got his first sip of water. Until then, he was only allowed a few drops from a spray bottle on the roof of his mouth. “For eight days, I just craved water. I remember having that first sip of water and it was indescribable,” he said. It gave him a better appreciation for Jesus’ living water example to the woman at the well in John 4:1-42.
Recovery and surgeries
Roy’s recovery and surgeries will continue years into the future, likely for the rest of his life. Miraculously, doctors were able to save both his left arm and leg, even though his left leg was almost completely cut off at the knee.
“Put everything aside from what’s happened in this crash, and the leg alone is just a massive miracle of what God can do,” he said.
On Father’s Day, June 15, Roy used a crutch to walk up the stairs at Crossway Baptist Church. Standing under his own power, he shared his testimony, and the lessons God had taught him through the ordeal. “When I really look back, I see the joy of Christ,” he said. He shared from 1 John 1:1–4, encouraging his church to live with purpose — “purpose to know Jesus, purpose to walk with Him, and purpose to share Jesus.”
Beyond his church, Roy has had several opportunities to share his story with others. He’s still serving with Freeway Ministries, even traveling to different cities across the United States, from Tyler, Texas, to Box Elder, South Dakota.
Scripture has been a great encouragement to Roy. James 1:2–3 has been the verse he remembers: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
He reflects, “The biggest question in my head for the longest time was, ‘How do I consider this joy?’ It means that I’m still able to share the gospel.”
Looking forward
Looking forward, Roy isn’t sure what God has in store for him to do. He plans to continue college this fall and continue serving with Freeway Ministries. “God’s going to guide me to where he wants me in life, but as of right now, I’m just going to be obedient,” he says.
“If God kept me alive through the hospital, the least I can do is glorify his name when opportunities come up. I’ve been grateful that I get to boast about the Lord that way, because I don’t deserve it.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Aiden Trimble and originally published by Missouri’s The Pathway.
