CRASH SURVIVOR LEAVES HOSPITAL.Byline: Joshua Lowe Staff Writer An 18-year-old Cal State Long Beach student from Tujunga went home from Long Beach Memorial Medical Center on Thursday, after a crash on the San Diego Freeway The San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405, and the part of Interstate 5 south of the El Toro Y[1]) is one of the principal north-south highways in Southern California, and the major beltway of I-5 running through Southern California. last week that nearly cost her a leg. Dawn Thompson said all she really remembers about Saturday's crash is swerving into ice plants and losing control to avoid a vehicle that appeared from her blind spot at Atlantic Avenue The following streets in the United States are named Atlantic Avenue:
Her next clear memory, she said, is being in the hospital and having bandages taken from her tattered tat·tered adj. 1. Torn into shreds; ragged. 2. Having ragged clothes; dressed in tatters. 3. a. Shabby or dilapidated. b. Disordered or disrupted. knee. Firefighter paramedics arriving at the crash site initially thought they might not find a living victim in the car. ``When you see a car mangled as badly as that, you generally have someone thrown from the vehicle, or there's not much you can do for them,'' said Jay Shaffer, who stayed by Thompson's side throughout the two hours it took to free her from the wreckage wreck·age n. 1. The act of wrecking or the state of being wrecked. 2. Something wrecked. 3. The debris of something wrecked. . ``I was just surprised to get there and find Dawn flailing around in a lot of pain, talking and alert,'' he said. They brought an emergency surgeon from St. Mary Medical Center St. Mary Medical Center may refer to:
The surgeon and other firefighters were on hand Thursday to wish her well as she was leaving the hospital, and Thompson had difficulty expressing how grateful she was. ``I can't even express it; I feel like the luckiest person in the world,'' she said. Thompson said she is also thankful thank·ful adj. 1. Aware and appreciative of a benefit; grateful. 2. Expressive of gratitude: a thankful smile. for the family, friends, fellow students and even strangers who have supported her. ``I'm just thinking how much there is to life. I have so many friends,'' she said through tears. ``They would stay with me overnight because I didn't want to be alone.'' Thompson displayed a Long Beach Fire Department sweatshirt the firefighters gave her, but she said she should be giving them gifts. ``I can say it a thousand times, and I still can't express it,'' she said. ``Thank you all sooooooo much.'' When she arrived at the hospital, Thompson had a broken thigh thigh (thi) femur; the portion of the leg above the knee. thigh n. The part of the leg between the hip and the knee. Also called femur. , shattered shat·ter v. shat·tered, shat·ter·ing, shat·ters v.tr. 1. To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. 2. a. knee and a nasty head wound. Surgeons repaired the leg with a pin that she will have for at least 12 to 18 months, said Dr. Ezzat Wassef. A full recovery is expected. Thompson said she has had good and bad days. ``It still doesn't seem real,'' she said. ``I'll take a look at the news pictures when I get home - that will probably bring it all home for me.'' |
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