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01-05-2003, 11:00 AM
Car-train victim no longer in coma
Girl hurt in crash uses sign language
By J. Sebastian Sinisi
Denver Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 04, 2003 - After more than seven weeks in a coma, car-train accident victim Maureen Martin, 16, "awakened" Friday, said Dave Martin, her father.
Maureen used sign language to say "I love you, mom and dad," "I want to go home," and "I love you, Vinny."
Vinny Veruchi, 17, Maureen's boyfriend, tried to bump her stalled car off the tracks with his pickup truck. He could not push her far enough, and the train struck her Mazda Protege.
She has a "severe traumatic brain injury," Dave Martin said. Because of that, "she can't walk or talk, but is awake when her eyes are open and can speak to us through sign language."
Maureen emerged from the coma over a period of several days, according to her father.
"She had been using sign language for about three days, but neither we nor the doctors realized it at first," Martin said.
"I'm still worried about her motor skills and the eye they operated on," he said. "But her thought processes are better. She remembers a lot more than we thought she would, and I'm very hopeful now."
On the morning of Nov. 12, Maureen Martin's stalled car was struck by a Union Pacific coal train at a railroad crossing at Fifth and Front streets in Castle Rock. She had been driving to Douglas County High School, where she is a junior.
Maureen was taken to Swedish Medical Center, where her condition fluctuated between critical and serious before she improved to "fair" condition Dec. 16. On that day, she was transferred to Craig Hospital in Englewood, a facility that specializes in rehabilitation for patients with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.
Dave Martin has retained Boulder lawyer Robert Schuetze to investigate why the train didn't slow down as it approached the crossing. Martin said Maureen's car should have been visible to the engineer at a distance of more than 1,300 feet.
"We now have a 16-year-old girl whose only mistake was to be in the wrong gear when her car stalled," he said. "She's going to be in rehab for a long time, and that seems a high price for the engineer not putting on any brakes."
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Girl hurt in crash uses sign language
By J. Sebastian Sinisi
Denver Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 04, 2003 - After more than seven weeks in a coma, car-train accident victim Maureen Martin, 16, "awakened" Friday, said Dave Martin, her father.
Maureen used sign language to say "I love you, mom and dad," "I want to go home," and "I love you, Vinny."
Vinny Veruchi, 17, Maureen's boyfriend, tried to bump her stalled car off the tracks with his pickup truck. He could not push her far enough, and the train struck her Mazda Protege.
She has a "severe traumatic brain injury," Dave Martin said. Because of that, "she can't walk or talk, but is awake when her eyes are open and can speak to us through sign language."
Maureen emerged from the coma over a period of several days, according to her father.
"She had been using sign language for about three days, but neither we nor the doctors realized it at first," Martin said.
"I'm still worried about her motor skills and the eye they operated on," he said. "But her thought processes are better. She remembers a lot more than we thought she would, and I'm very hopeful now."
On the morning of Nov. 12, Maureen Martin's stalled car was struck by a Union Pacific coal train at a railroad crossing at Fifth and Front streets in Castle Rock. She had been driving to Douglas County High School, where she is a junior.
Maureen was taken to Swedish Medical Center, where her condition fluctuated between critical and serious before she improved to "fair" condition Dec. 16. On that day, she was transferred to Craig Hospital in Englewood, a facility that specializes in rehabilitation for patients with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.
Dave Martin has retained Boulder lawyer Robert Schuetze to investigate why the train didn't slow down as it approached the crossing. Martin said Maureen's car should have been visible to the engineer at a distance of more than 1,300 feet.
"We now have a 16-year-old girl whose only mistake was to be in the wrong gear when her car stalled," he said. "She's going to be in rehab for a long time, and that seems a high price for the engineer not putting on any brakes."
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http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E1088762%257E,00.html