LAKE OSWEGO, OR – It was late October when Calli Luikart and her friend, Zach, were returning home from a pumpkin patch when their car went off a ledge and they dropped 50 feet to the ground below. The two seniors at Belmont University in Tennessee were seriously injured, Calli critically.
Rushed to Vanderbilt University Hospital, Luikart who is from Lake Oswego, immediately had the first of several surgeries. Her family says there were very tough moments in the first few weeks after the crash, which left Calli paralyzed.
Now, just two months later, Calli has made it home for the holidays.
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“Calli has made it home safe, was surrounded by tons of family and friends and we are all at Grandpa and Papas house doing a family cookie decorating day,” her sister wrote on Sunday.
“Traditions are what we look forward to all year and they definitely add some normal that is much needed. I can’t even begin to describe how “right” this feels.”
Despite the crash, Calli was able to graduate with honors – and two degrees – her sister says.
While she is in much better shape than right after the crash, the family says that she still has a long way to go and the family needs help.
“Due to a recent job change, this accident happened in the gap between their old and new insurance plans,” a family friend wrote on the GoFundMePage that she set up for the family.
As of Christmas Eve, they have raised $62,175 from 644 people. They hope to raise $150,000.
On a CaringBridge page that the family also set up so that people can follow Calli’s progress, her mother wrote that it wasn’t a smooth ride home.
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“The flight was extra bumpy and Calli did a great job although her neck was unhappy,” Wendy Luikart wrote, adding that what drama there was on the flight came from someone other than Calli.
“I got to use my manual blood pressure cuff and stethoscope when a lady fainted in the aisle.”
She said that being home was the important thing.
“We smiled the whole way” from the airport. “We are home! The house was decorated beautifully and friends and family were there to surprise us.”
Photo via GoFundMe, a Patch partner.