BRADFORD, Vt. — The community is showing support for a Bradford family after a 4-year-old child suffered serious injuries in a sledding accident at Elizabeth Park in January.
Rylie Martin loves dinosaurs, art and outdoor activities, said VallaRee Doucette, her mother. She is an active child who doesn’t like to keep still. Doucette described her as outgoing, funny and free spirited. She is considered the “mother hen” in her child care center because she always wants to help take care of the babies and is empathetic toward her friends’ feelings.
Rylie is now recovering from injuries she suffered after hitting a tree on Jan. 10 when she was sledding with her two sisters, ages 9 and 5, at the park.
The three girls were going down the sledding hill on a tube. Due to a balancing issue, the tube did not go straight down the hill as it had on four prior runs, but rather slid off the side toward the woods.
While her sisters both managed to get off the tube, Rylie crashed into a tree at the bottom, Doucette said.
When Doucette went to her side, Rylie was unconscious and not responsive. Doucette started giving Rylie a sternum rub, which involves applying physical pressure to get a pain response that indicates the injured person is reactive. Rylie was in and out of consciousness as the family waited for help.
“I called 911 and was trying to keep myself and other two girls calm because they were very worried that they killed Rylie,” Doucette said last Thursday by phone.
A firefighter who lives a minute up the road was the first responder on the scene and he helped direct emergency services to Rylie’s location, said Doucette.
Rylie spent two weeks at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth in intensive care with around-the-clock monitoring. Rylie suffered a skull fracture, blood clotting in multiple places, a torn artery, a brain bleed and a broken right arm in the accident.
She eventually progressed out of what Doucette described as a “life or death situation,” thanks to the trauma team, neurosurgery team and child life specialists, among others, who provided excellent care, said Doucette.
After being discharged, Rylie stayed on injectable blood thinners and had a cast up to her elbow due to an arm fracture, though that injury has healed.
Doucette took time off work to be with Rylie during recovery. Now, Rylie is back in child care, easing back in to her normal routine albeit with specialty helmet and an order to be extremely careful and gentle.
Doucette and her husband are keeping an eye out for any concerning signals from Rylie. She has been pigeon-toed since accident and they are making sure her speaking abilities stay on track.
The recovery process involved a lot of MRIs, CT scans and X-rays. Rylie’s subdural bleeding is under control, but she remains on blood thinners to prevent clots in her major artery until April.
“She’s not quite out of the woods yet, but she’s definitely making really strong strides,” said Doucette.
Rylie’s most recent MRI showed no active bleeding on her brain and she is now on oral blood thinners. Her next CT scan in April will have more information on her artery healing and blood clots. Until then, the future of her recovery is unclear.
“It can go two polar opposite ways unfortunately,” said Doucette.
Despite the accident and the difficulties it created in her life, Rylie remains an optimist.
“She always tries to find a good outlook of a situation that might be a little negative if other people looked at it,” said Doucette.
Both of Rylie’s sisters have begun therapy to work through emotions related to the accident, but they are overall happy to have her home so they can all play together again.
“I couldn’t ask for a better trio of girls honestly,” said Doucette.
Meanwhile, the Bradford community is offering support for the family, said Doucette.
As of Monday, a GoFundMe for the family— established by Kait Garrett, a close friend of Doucette whom Rylie considers an aunt— has reached nearly $7,500 in contributions, many of which come from people who don’t know the family personally.
“We weren’t even thinking that we would get $100 of it. We really weren’t thinking it was going to take off as well as it did but the community definitely pulled through,” said Doucette.
The GoFundMe has an $8,000 goal, but it’s unclear what costs will be depending on Rylie’s continued medical needs.
“No family is ever prepared for something like this—emotionally, physically, or financially,” Garrett wrote on the GoFundMe page.
In addition, a community fundraiser for Rylie is planned for Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Orange East Senior Center, located at 176 Waits River Road in Bradford. This event is a spaghetti dinner offered by donation. Rylie and her family are planning to attend the event, said Doucette.
Rylie’s grandmother, Teisha Doucette is a cook at the senior center. After hearing Rylie’s story, two volunteers — Sarah Brufo and Wendy Whitman — took it upon themselves to rally the community for the fundraiser, Vicky Chaffee, the center’s executive director, said Monday by phone.
Chaffee said she believes it’s important for neighbors to help each other out in times of need, and is happy to facilitate that through the senior center.
The center is anticipating about 100 attendees for this dinner, though it’s not clear how many people will show up, she said.
“We are all very concerned about the little girl,” said Chaffee.
CORRECTION: Rylie Martin is the name of a child who was injured in a sledding accident in Bradford in January. A previous version of this story included an incorrect spelling of her first name.