'Miracle' schoolgirl improving after Ballygawley Road crash
RELIEVED relatives of the school-girl seriously injured in the school-bus crash on the A4 have spoken of their delight at how she appears to have cheated death.
Speaking from Grainne Mallon's bed-side at the Royal Children's Hospital, her father, Christy Mallon, said that her remarkable recovery had exceeded his wildest expectations.
"We are all over the moon with how she has come back from death's door", he said.
"From day to day we are seeing her progress in huge steps. She is now able to talk to us."
Recovery
Nine-year-old Grainne began breathing on her own last week after doctors expressed pessimism over whether she would survive the horrific collision which claimed the life of her cousin 16-year-old Nicola Murray.
Her family have been keeping a bed-side vigil at her side, after she underwent two life-saving operations.
A portion of her skull-cap which was removed to prevent bruising to her brain has yet to be replaced.
However, doctors have warned her parents, Christy and Sinead, that Grainne faces a long road to recovery.
Seven members of the same extended family were travelling on the bus when a lorry collided with it on February 27.
Severe
Grainne was rushed to the Royal Children's Hospital after the crash where she underwent emergency surgery for severe head injuries.
But by the weekend, at the same time her cousin was being buried, doctors feared they had done all they could for her.
"One doctor told Christy and Sinead they didn't think she'd come out of the theatre, because she got such a bad thumping on the head", her uncle Martin Mallon said.
"But now the doctors say she's going to survive.
"She can roll over to the left and right and Christy says he can feel her respond when he asks her to squeeze his hand.
"There's a feeding tube in for her and she's trying to pull it out, which shows she's aware that something's bothering her.
"Hopefully she can come back to near normality.
"But the doctors are saying she's facing 18 months of a lot of work."
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Weather for Dungannon
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
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