Love and Light Triumphs Over Tragedy and Trauma

The Journey, Winter 2023

Written by Maggie Watts with Danny Edmisten and Ben Cox

Danny Edmisten and his older brother, Corey, grew up going to Parkway School, riding dirt bikes, playing soccer and video games, and exploring the woods together. The brothers also worked together for their family’s heating and air company during their summer breaks.

“We used to walk around downtown Boone a lot, and people would think we were twins with our curly blonde hair,” he said.

The Edmisten family made it a priority to bring the boys to church regularly. 

“I have a lot of fond memories from my early church life. My family made it a point to put God first. Sundays were spent in Sunday school classrooms or in the pews with my parents in the main service. I always loved singing and putting money into the tithing baskets as they came around. As I grew older, I went to youth group events, went to youth Summer Church Camps, and was baptized as a teenager,” he said. As they grew up, Danny and Corey navigated their parent’s divorce together. The brothers had disagreements but were always able to overcome them.

“We loved each other, but like brothers, we often fought and argued. I felt like when we were young kids things were wonderful and we got along really well, but as we aged I became the younger pesky brother. We still got along most of the time, but our relationship was different. Sometimes we disagreed on things, and with our parents divorced, sometimes we would spend time at the opposite parent's house,” Edmisten said. “I remember one of the last times I saw Corey was at my 12th birthday party. He stopped by to give me a card and tell me that he loved me.”

Danny’s world changed when Corey was in a tragic motorcycle accident on Daniel’s Ridge. 

“Corey was a novice rider and was just starting to get comfortable on dirt bikes and motocross and woods racing,” Edmisten said. “Corey was really excited about riding at Daniel’s Ridge that day. He and a couple of local Boone boys from Watauga High School were at the track that day. Corey was riding on the track before the race doing warm-up laps. He was approaching a section of smaller bumps on the track called whoops, and Corey dropped the bike and fell off. He quickly hopped back on the bike and continued riding the track, he came to a turn and accidentally missed the turn, maybe because he was disoriented from dropping the bike. Unfortunately, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of his friends was jumping a section of large jumps, and Corey was mistakenly in between the ramps for the jumps. At that very moment, one of his high school friends was launching to do the exact jump Corey was in between. They collided, the other boy's motorcycle crashed into Corey's helmet, and the force was so great that it severely bruised both sides of Corey’s brain. He was instantly unconscious and remained in a coma until he later passed away. My dad witnessed this accident. It’s an event that’s forever changed my family's life and many others.”

In the aftermath of the accident, the Edmisten family felt like they had been crushed and defeated. They questioned why God would let this happen.

“I definitely didn’t react with grace. I turned to substance abuse to numb the reality. I felt like happiness was no longer obtainable,” Edmisten said. “It was like a lump in my throat I couldn’t swallow.”

Shortly thereafter, Danny’s mother decided to move to Florida. She wanted to be closer to her Florida family for a support group. Danny decided to go with his mother. It was in Florida that Danny met Nina, his future wife.

“My struggle with drugs started in my teenage years. I realized it was a struggle when my own life began to crumble. I was angry with God,” Edmisten said. “I felt like He had personally taken Corey from us, and I was on a path to self-destruction to mask the pain and grief.”

“When I first met my Wife Nina it was a glimmer of hope. I had learned to love again. Her family was deeply rooted in church and her parents became like second parents to me. They held me accountable. They wouldn’t let me even date their daughter if I wasn’t living healthily and equally yoked. They reignited my love for the Lord that I had stubbornly forgotten.”

“I had hit rock bottom on several occasions. I had thrown away my relationship with my parents, and I almost lost my life to my addiction. I had compromised my relationship with my future wife. Thankfully, all the people whom I continued to wrong didn’t give up on me,” Edmisten said. “When I had thrown my life away and was so intertwined with sin and darkness, that unfailing love I had seen displayed through Nina and her parents helped me to refocus my priorities and overcome the darkness of my substance abuse.”

Jesus pulled Danny up out of the waters of drug abuse. He pursued Danny even when Danny did not want to pursue Him. 

“God has moved mountains in my life. He has parted flooding waters, he has crumbled the high-standing walls, and he has opened the doors and closed others for me to prosper,” Edmisten said. “I feel like I have always sought the Lord, or rather, He always pursued me with his Holy Spirit. Even when I turned from Him, He didn’t give up on me.”

“I was stubborn like the Israelites. Over and over again I rebelled, but God has shown me His unfailing love time and time again through His Word,” he said. “I was baptized as a child, actually on more than one occasion. But I feel like it was not until recently that I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Before I was living a life that was full of sin and occasionally disrupted by Wednesday or Sunday church. But now I feel like I am living a life for God that is occasionally interrupted by my sin.”

After living in Florida for 10 years, Danny and his wife, Nina, moved back to the High Country last year. They now have two children and are involved at Wilkes Celebration Church.

“We love the church, and it’s a place where we are continually spiritually fed and challenged,” Edmisten said. 

“My Walk with the Lord has been constantly blooming. With my marriage, my two beautiful children, my work, and my art, God has blessed me abundantly. He has been with me through the darkness, through the fire, and through the storm.”

In the aftermath of the tragedy, God used Corey as an organ donor to bless another boy. Corey’s heart was donated to a boy in need, and Danny described it as “miraculous.” The Edminsten’s developed a relationship with the boy who received Corey’s heart, and he became a close family friend.