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Local girl struggles to recover from accident
By Michael Glover
Herald-Tribune
FORT SCOTT, Kan. - Suvanne and Brad Peel's home has now become a waiting room at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark.
Before 11:30 a.m. Saturday, everything was all right for the Peels, who live in Fort Scott. After 11:30 p.m., everything has been upended.
Their 16-year-old daughter, Leesa Peel, was on vacation last week in Arkansas with her boyfriend, Wes Nichols, of Fort Scott.
They decided to go boating on the 32,500 acre Greer's Ferry Lake, about 300 miles southeast of Fort Scott.
Leesa and her 14-year-old friend from Little Rock, Ark., whose family requested her name not be used for this article, were riding an innertube together when two men on a waverunner collided with their innertube. The driver later said a nearby boat obstructed his view of the girls.
The violent collision knocked Leesa and her friend off the innertube. They floated face-down in the water. The men on the WaveRunner rushed over to the girls and pulled them onto the boat that pulled the innertube.
The friend was conscious. Leesa was not. She took the brunt of the collision, Suvanne said.
Luckily, a medical trauma nurse was boating near the accident scene, Suvanne said. She jumped on board the boat and helped get Leesa stabilized as the boat raced to the shore.
"It's just one of those freak accidents that happened," Beverly Peel, Leesa's grandmother said.
Leesa was transported by ambulance to a nearby clinic at the lake. She was then rushed by helicopter to Arkansas Children's Hospital.
She's currently listed in critical condition in the pediatric intensive care unit. Leesa suffered serious head trauma that resulted in brain swelling. Leesa also suffered a fractured jaw and collar bone.
Doctors told Suvanne that they can't tell whether Leesa will fully recover. Her condition improved slightly on Thursday morning but then declined back down to her original condition later that night. Suvanne said they're lucky that Leesa is even alive. The friend suffered a concussion.
"Right now it's a roller coaster ride I'd like to get off of," Suvanne said. "It's very much overwhelming."
Leesa, who will be a junior at Fort Scott High School, is an honor student and involved in student council.
"As soon as I found out about what happened, I was so shocked and wanted to help but she was in another state," said Kristin Downing, 15, who is one of Leesa's closest friends. "I was really scared."
Downing said Leesa is a "very strong and independent person who had everything going for her."
For anyone who wishes to send cards, the address to the hospital is 800 Marshall St., PICU Room No. 17, Little Rock, AR 72202.