A 10-year-old girl hit by a school bus while walking to school is in a coma. Her mother collapsed at her bedside after family members say her heart functioning dropped because of stress. Doctors also placed her in an induced coma.
Witnesses say Rakelle Davis was walking from her home to Brookwood Elementary School in Gwinnett County, Georgia. As she crossed Holly brook Road, a private school bus making a turn into a neighborhood hit her.
The fifth-grader was rushed to the hospital. As doctors worked to save her life, Rakelle’s mother, Lisa, collapsed and ended up in a coma herself.
“What she seemed to have was a stress-induced heart condition that the laymen call broken heart disease or broken heart syndrome,” her brother-in-law Danny Davis said. “Basically her heart function dropped to 10 percent when it happened.”
Lisa is in the intensive care unit at Emory Hospital, while Rakelle remains in a medically induced coma at Egleston.
“The biggest thing they are worried about right now are the pressure spikes in her brain,” Danny Davis said about Rakelle. “They removed her spleen and had part of her pancreas removed, but none of that should keep her from functioning normally.”
The family says Rakelle walks to school every day taking the same route. A police report says she walked out in front of the Primrose school bus as it turned into a subdivision Friday.
The family is facing enormous medical bills and weeks of recovery.
Danny Davis started a YouCaring site to raise money for his brother and as a way to share the latest updates with a concerned Brookwood community.
“It was awful seeing the kid coming on the stretcher all the way to the helicopter,” said Emmanuel Rodriguez, who witnessed the aftermath.
For now the family is focused on caring for the two other Davis children while their dad shuttles between two different hospitals.
“So far the prognosis is as good as it can be,” Danny Davis said.
He says Lisa woke up on Wednesday and is talking and moving. Rakelle will likely be in a coma for a while.
No charges were filed in connection with the accident.
Neighbors say the intersection is dangerous and they hope this accident will spur change.
About the Author