M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

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).

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates