Girl sacrifices self to protect her brother.Many people say they would "give their right arm" to help another, but a girl from California's San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. recently gave her left arm to save her little brother. On July 15, Arianna Masten, a 10-year-old girl from West Covina West Covina, city (1990 pop. 96,086), Los Angeles co., S Calif., in the San Gabriel valley; settled 1905, inc. 1923. Before World War II, West Covina was a small rural community where walnuts, wheat, and livestock were raised. , a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. suburb, was riding in a van driven by her grandmother near Independence, California Independence is a census-designated place and the county seat of Inyo County, California. The population was 574 at the 2000 census. Independence is home to the Eastern California Museum [1]. , in the Lake Tahoe region. The Masten family was traveling in two vehicles from West Covina to Nevada to spend the weekend with Arianna's father. Arianna's grandmother swerved suddenly and lost control of the van, causing it to flip onto the passenger side and slide about 200 feet. Arianna said that when the van started to flip over, her two-year-old brother Matthew tried to get out of his car seat. Feeling instinctively protective of him, she unbuckled her seat belt and threw her arms over her little brother to protect him from the crash. "We fell back and there were all kinds of sparks," Arianna told the Pasadena Star-News. "I tried to put him somewhere where he doesn't get burnt or nothing." Matthew was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) is a hospital located in Colton, California within Southern California's Inland Empire. The director of the hospital is Dr. Dev Gnanadev. , where he was treated for serious injuries, especially road burns. But Arianna had borne the worst of it. Her left arm had literally been ripped from her body. Arianna told reporters that she didn't feel the loss of her arm and wasn't aware of it until she looked over to her left side. "Please tell me this is a dream," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I can't believe it." "She pretty much sacrificed herself for her little brother and she got the bad end of it," Arianna's father, Richard Masten, of Reno, told the Reno Gazette Journal. "I call her my little hero." The plucky pluck·y adj. pluck·i·er, pluck·i·est Having or showing courage and spirit in trying circumstances. See Synonyms at brave. pluck girl has already thought about which activities she can still perform with a single arm: "I'm going to start playing the drums. I don't need two drumsticks; I only need one." Arianna also thinks she can still play catcher on her softball team. "Catchers don't need two arms; they only need one." Arianna, who now refers to herself as "the one-armed girl," will be fitted with a prosthetic pros·thet·ic adj. 1. Serving as or relating to a prosthesis. 2. Of or relating to prosthetics. prosthetic serving as a substitute; pertaining to prostheses or to prosthetics. arm when she is older. She told reporters that she and Matthew are very close: "Whenever he cries or falls down, he'll call my name" |
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