Amanda Schoonmaker
 My daughter Amanda is 15 years old and on Saturday Nov 1st 2008 she
was in an ATV accident. We were at a cook out in a private community
and all the kids were taking turns on the ATV. I was dead set against
my kids riding but everyone said I was just being paranoid and then
the owner of the ATV taught the kids how to handle it and so on, against
my better
judgment I allowed my kids to ride. They did good all day and at dusk
we were getting ready to leave and My daughter asked to go one more time
so I allowed her too. About 20 minutes later I thought it was strange
she wasn't back yet so my husband and I jumped in t he van and went looking.
About 200 yards from the house there were cars stopped in the road and
I knew then that it wasn't good, off to the left you could see the ATV
against a tree lights still on. Amanda hit the tree head on at 25 MPH.
My stomach dropped and my husband and I went running, my girl friend
had left a few minutes earlier and she grabbed me when we got to the scene and told me to stay calm but that Amanda had hit the tree and
it was bad. She had found my daughter wondering in the street bleeding
and screaming for me. She was life flighted to kosair Childrens hospital
in Louisville. She had over 100 stitches in her face she broke 3 bones
in her face,fractured her skull and nose. She had surgery the following
Tuesday to repair the broken bones. She spent 5 days in the hospital.
My daughter does not remember the accident at all but believe me I remember
that night very clearly. She is recovering quite well she has a scar
about 6 inches long and it goes across her eye lid also. She hit the
tree at 25 miles per hour head on, she is lucky to be alive. It's the
worst feeling in the world to see my baby hurt like that and knowing
I cant do anything to fix it!! We were very lucky in the sense that I
didn't lose her that day but she has to live the rest of her life with
that scar to remind her of what happened. My kids will NEVER get on another
ATV as long as they live in my house!!
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