Oak Ridge mother, burn survivor competes in national Super Mom contest

Hannah Koontz brought an Oak Ridge story to the national Super Mom contest, and the Triad connection ran deeper than the title on the campaign page. The Guilford County mother, who has an eight-month-old son, entered the fundraiser-style competition with a history shaped by loss, recovery and the kind of support that can only come from a close-knit community.

Koontz lost her mother when she was 12, after a car crash and fire. She later survived a crash that burned about 25% of her body, mostly on her arms and hands, and spent months in the hospital. Surgeries and physical therapy followed, but so did a determination to keep moving. Exercise had already been part of her life through gymnastics, and later CrossFit became part of both her recovery and identity.

That background gave her Super Mom run a different weight than a typical pageant-style contest. Koontz said motherhood feels especially meaningful because she knows what it is to grow up without her own mother, and the absence still reaches into ordinary days when a hard moment cannot be answered with a quick phone call. Her story lands in Oak Ridge, where family ties and community backing helped carry her through the long road back from injury.

The contest itself is run by Colossal and supports Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The winner receives $20,000, a magazine feature and a 6-day, 5-night family vacation, along with national recognition. Colossal said the campaign had raised $14,914,065 at the time of access, and the company said the 2024 Super Mom campaign raised $6.6 million for the charity. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals says its network includes 170 hospitals and that it has raised more than $7 billion to date.

Koontz’s CrossFit athlete profile lists her with CrossFit Oak Ridge, another local marker that roots the national competition in Guilford County. A 2007 Star-News story about the family also shows that the crash that killed her mother has long been part of the area’s memory. In Koontz’s case, the contest was not just about earning votes or a prize; it was a public step in a much longer story of survival, motherhood and a community that stayed close when it mattered most.