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Holly Newton Severely Injured in Cycling Accident
By Kathryn H. Kidd
ST. PAUL, Minnesota —
Our beloved children's book reviewer, Holly Newton, was severely
injured in a cycling accident in St. Paul, on May 4, 2007.
She had emergency surgery that night to relieve swelling and stop
bleeding in her brain and is now in recovery. The doctors
are cautiously optimistic.
Holly's husband Dale said, "We are praying
for her complete recovery but it is too early to tell at this point."
Along with a local priesthood leader, Dale was able
to give her a blessing the evening of the accident. "I know
that that helped tremendously," he reported.
In a letter to Meridian, Dale described the incident:
Holly was in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area just
riding her bike around the suburbs looking at neighborhoods and
for a place for us to live. I started a new job here on
Friday, May 4th. We arrived in town Wednesday evening, spent
Thursday house-hunting and then Holly was just planning to continue
that process on Friday while I started work. She is an experienced
cyclist and rides her bike nearly every day —
whether Missouri, Arizona or Minnesota.
It was a little rainy that afternoon and she
somehow hit a crack in the road and went over her handlebars and
hit her forehead. It was definitely a freak accident. We'll never
know for sure what happened, as Holly does not recall the accident.
Two passersby did see it happen, called 911 and
contributed to the police report. Holly received outstanding
medical care from the paramedics and from the Regions Hospital
trauma team. We are thankful for the many good decisions
made by the emergency and
medical folks as those decisions and actions probably saved her
life.
Holly made it through that first crucial night just
fine and her situation stabilized. She had another CAT scan
on May 5, and the subsequent bleeding was minimal (and expected).
Three of Holly and Dale's children were able to join them in St.
Paul. Having them there has been a great comfort to Dale.
Holly and Dale's son Holland sent this note to family
and friends on Sunday, May 6:
Thanks again for all of your thoughts, prayers,
fasting, support, and so on.
Holly is doing great. She is not out of the woods, but compared
to how she was 48 hours ago, it is a miracle. She was still
very tired today, so she slept a lot, but when awake ? especially
this evening (Sunday) —
she is very aware of who was in the room. She can talk and hold
a conversation, she can remember just about everything except the
few minutes before and hours after the accident, she is eating proper
food, can laugh and smile and open her eyes.
While she knows she had brain surgery and
is missing part of her skull, I don't know if it has "sunken-in"
yet. She took having most of her hair shaved off surprisingly
well, and when they were going to wash what she had left
of it, she just said, cut it all off, so she is
in chipper spirits and bald/buzzed.
Again, we appreciate all of your sustaining faith and prayers
and thoughts, and we thank you for continued support.
Holly should be moved from Intensive Care to a
normal hospital room by Monday [May 7] morning. She no longer
has any monitoring devices in her head, and has a little
oxygen tube to keep her blood/oxygen level up from time to
time. The doctor thinks she may be ready to leave the hospital
as early as Thursday [May 10] this week. She will need to
wear a helmet since she won't have the skull repaired till they're
sure the brain is no longer bleeding (timetable unknown —
perhaps a couple of weeks after discharge). She will still need
a major surgery to either replace the piece of skull they removed
or put something in its place.
We love you and can't help but believe that your fasting and/or
praying and thoughts has had something to do with Holly's quickly
improving condition. Thank you.
Love, Holland and family
On Wednesday, Dale wrote the following letter to
Meridian:
Holly has made amazing progress since Friday evening.
Her improvement is an answer to prayer and shows the power of
fasting and Priesthood blessings. Several members of the
St. Paul Ward have been wonderful in their concern and compassionate
care. Holly was included in the Fast and Testimony meetings
of several different wards on Sunday in Missouri, Arizona, Utah
and Minnesota. Her recovery has been nothing short of miraculous.
We are very grateful for those many prayers and we are hopeful
for a complete recovery.
Holly's friends and fans from around the world are
encouraged to offer up a prayer for her recovery. We know that "the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous [person] availeth much"
(James 5:16).
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© 2007
Meridian Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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