27.10.04
Belfast Telegraph
**This is the best news of all!
Family's joy as crash girl out of coma
By Deborah McAleese
27 October 2004
A five-year-old girl critically injured earlier this month by a hit-and-run driver has delighted her family and medical staff with her brave battle back to health.
Oonagh O'Reilly's family and friends were celebrating today at her "miraculous" recovery after she spent two weeks in a coma suffering from serious internal injuries.
When Oonagh was initially admitted to hospital her parents were told the first 24 hours were crucial as doctors treated her for head injuries, shattered ribs, pierced lungs and blood in her liver.
She had been playing in Norglen Road near her Monagh Drive home in west Belfast when she was struck by a blue van, which failed to stop, on October 5.
But she has now delighted her family and surprised medical staff with how well and quickly she is recovering.
For her mother Veronica, who was left distraught after the accident, when Oonagh first opened her eyes it signalled the end of a "complete nightmare".
It was initially feared that Oonagh may have suffered brain damage but today she is back to her old self again and chatting with staff in the children's ward of the Royal Victoria Hospital, where she is still in traction.
She is expected to get out of traction on Monday and will then have to undertake intensive courses of physiotherapy.
At the time of the accident Oonagh's father Stephen said where she had been knocked down is a very busy area and the driver may not even have realised he had hit her.
Nobody has been arrested for the hit-and-run incident. Forensic tests have been carried out on a van which was seized by the PSNI after the incident.
**This is the best news of all!
Family's joy as crash girl out of coma
By Deborah McAleese
27 October 2004
A five-year-old girl critically injured earlier this month by a hit-and-run driver has delighted her family and medical staff with her brave battle back to health.
Oonagh O'Reilly's family and friends were celebrating today at her "miraculous" recovery after she spent two weeks in a coma suffering from serious internal injuries.
When Oonagh was initially admitted to hospital her parents were told the first 24 hours were crucial as doctors treated her for head injuries, shattered ribs, pierced lungs and blood in her liver.
She had been playing in Norglen Road near her Monagh Drive home in west Belfast when she was struck by a blue van, which failed to stop, on October 5.
But she has now delighted her family and surprised medical staff with how well and quickly she is recovering.
For her mother Veronica, who was left distraught after the accident, when Oonagh first opened her eyes it signalled the end of a "complete nightmare".
It was initially feared that Oonagh may have suffered brain damage but today she is back to her old self again and chatting with staff in the children's ward of the Royal Victoria Hospital, where she is still in traction.
She is expected to get out of traction on Monday and will then have to undertake intensive courses of physiotherapy.
At the time of the accident Oonagh's father Stephen said where she had been knocked down is a very busy area and the driver may not even have realised he had hit her.
Nobody has been arrested for the hit-and-run incident. Forensic tests have been carried out on a van which was seized by the PSNI after the incident.
