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Editor's note: At the time this story was written Megan Crawford was home. On Tuesday Monica Crawford posted on Facebook that Megan was hospitalized at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. Sheisdealing with pneumonia, a fever and a bladder infection.
Her eyes darted back and forth in what appeared to be an attempt to take everything in. The eyes were distinctive, a striking blue.
She looked at her sister Monica, her niece Makayla, her mother, Mary, and her father, Mike.
For Megan Crawford this was real progress. She was awake, alert and constantly surveying the room and its occupants.
Megan was back in her parents’ Germantown Hills home for the holidays — more than four months after an accident she was not expected to survive.
On Dec. 1, just days after arriving home with her daughter, Mary is convinced Megan is making real progress.
“The doctors can’t tell me her limitations. There is brain damage,” Mary said. “But, she shouldn’t be doing what she is.”
Determined
Mary looked exhausted. But that was just her outward appearance. Mary said inside she was ecstatic her determination was paying off.
That Megan was at home was a direct result of Mary’s determination.
“What her condition is is a good question. I don’t know. They don’t really tell us a lot,” Mary said.
The family has watched Megan go through a great deal — broken bones, brain trauma, drug-induced coma, pneumonia, bladder infections and critical complications from her diabetes.
This medical nightmare began July 15. East Peorian Amy Adkins, 26, was a passenger in Megan’s car when the accident occurred at about 4 a.m. on I-75 between the communities of Richmond and Berea, Ky. Adkins died of her injuries.
The women were struck by a minivan traveling north in the southbound lanes of I-75.
“After all Megan and the family has been through we all needed a break,” Mary said.
“This whole thing has been crazy. Her health is so fragile. Her immune system is so weak. But, I still wanted her home. I said to the doctors, ‘Let us go home for two weeks to a month.’”
The doctors were not excited about that idea. They wanted Megan in an intermediate or long-term care facility.
“It was a nightmare getting it all done. I simply said, ‘No.’ They were surprised we’d take on Megan’s care,” Mary said.
“It was interesting. I had been dealing with doctors for more than four months. Doctors don’t scare or intimidate me anymore.”
Editor's note: At the time this story was written Megan Crawford was home. On Tuesday Monica Crawford posted on Facebook that Megan was hospitalized at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. Sheisdealing with pneumonia, a fever and a bladder infection.
Her eyes darted back and forth in what appeared to be an attempt to take everything in. The eyes were distinctive, a striking blue.
She looked at her sister Monica, her niece Makayla, her mother, Mary, and her father, Mike.
For Megan Crawford this was real progress. She was awake, alert and constantly surveying the room and its occupants.
Megan was back in her parents’ Germantown Hills home for the holidays — more than four months after an accident she was not expected to survive.
On Dec. 1, just days after arriving home with her daughter, Mary is convinced Megan is making real progress.
“The doctors can’t tell me her limitations. There is brain damage,” Mary said. “But, she shouldn’t be doing what she is.”
Determined
Mary looked exhausted. But that was just her outward appearance. Mary said inside she was ecstatic her determination was paying off.
That Megan was at home was a direct result of Mary’s determination.
“What her condition is is a good question. I don’t know. They don’t really tell us a lot,” Mary said.
The family has watched Megan go through a great deal — broken bones, brain trauma, drug-induced coma, pneumonia, bladder infections and critical complications from her diabetes.
This medical nightmare began July 15. East Peorian Amy Adkins, 26, was a passenger in Megan’s car when the accident occurred at about 4 a.m. on I-75 between the communities of Richmond and Berea, Ky. Adkins died of her injuries.
The women were struck by a minivan traveling north in the southbound lanes of I-75.
“After all Megan and the family has been through we all needed a break,” Mary said.
“This whole thing has been crazy. Her health is so fragile. Her immune system is so weak. But, I still wanted her home. I said to the doctors, ‘Let us go home for two weeks to a month.’”
The doctors were not excited about that idea. They wanted Megan in an intermediate or long-term care facility.
“It was a nightmare getting it all done. I simply said, ‘No.’ They were surprised we’d take on Megan’s care,” Mary said.
“It was interesting. I had been dealing with doctors for more than four months. Doctors don’t scare or intimidate me anymore.”
What might come next, also, no longer weighs on Mary.
“We don’t know what tomorrow will bring or what next year will bring. We’ll face what comes,” Mary said.
“We try to remain positive. She cannot have negativity around her.”
Progress
The gamble in bringing Megan home has already paid dividends, Mary and Monica said.
“When she got in the house she was at ease,” Monica said, holding her little sister’s hand. “She went right to sleep.”
Mary smiled slightly as she looked at her girls.
“She’s been home two days and already we’ve seen remarkable improvement,” Mary said.
“The family is in consensus that Megan is not going to be in a long-term facility. She feels pain. She expresses joy. As a family we have to give her what she needs — our strength. In the last month in the hospital I’ve felt Megan was sad. When she came in the house she looked like she was ready to cry.”
Mary and Monica said the change in Megan has been incredible. Megan is more alert in her new room — formerly the dining room.
She has begun moving her right arm much more.
On Dec. 1 as the family was talking to a reporter Megan grasped Monica’s hand. Earlier Megan had moved her hand to touch her 4-month-old niece Makayla. Her dosage of pain medication has also been drastically diminished.
A number of oxygen tanks delivered to the house lay on the floor under Megan’s bed waiting to be picked up because they were not needed.
“We’re also getting her energy back up,” Mary said.
“Before we came home the doctors asked me if I was comfortable with this. I told them I’d be a fool if I wasn’t apprehensive. But, I felt in my heart Megan wanted to come home. I think now she has more will and determination. I feel peace from Megan.”
