Sunday, January 03, 1999
'Miracle in progress': Boy coming back from accident
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HANOVER TOWNSHIP — Two months ago, Devin Carr's parents were praying for a miracle. The Talawanda Middle School sixth-grader suffered a severe brain and spinal cord injury when a truck struck him as he stood waiting for his school bus outside his Butler County home.
Devin lay comatose and immobile at Children's Hospital Medical Center. Deanna and Dave Carr, his worried parents, hardly left his side.
At first, Devin's prognosis was so bleak, doctors wouldn't share it, Mrs. Carr said. Devin's initial brain scan, revealed to Mrs. Carr only recently, showed damage “that really was devastating,” she said. “Almost every area of his brain was injured.”
Now, a sign on the door to his hospital room, in bright red letters, reads: “Miracle in Progress.” Inside Room 592, 12-year-old Devin is eating, talking, smiling and laughing. He's also walking — and he's expected to walk out of Children's on Friday, his mother said.
“We'd really like to thank the community for all the visits, the cards, the letters, the prayers,” said Mrs. Carr. “I know they are the reason he has come along so well.”
The stream of visits and good wishes has been nonstop, she said. About two dozen schoolmates visit regularly.
“You'd think that would slow down, but it hasn't. It's been really great for him,” Mrs. Carr said.
Several fund-raisers have generated more than $15,000 to help the family, Mrs. Carr said. While visiting Devin, his parents have suffered lost wages and incurred expenses for travel and meals. Medical bills go to the family's lawyer.
Court action is pending against the driver accused of running into Devin. A pretrial conference is set for Wednesday for Leaton D. Isaacs, 33, of Hamilton. Mr. Isaacs is charged with aggravated vehicular assault, speeding and improper passing.
An attempt to reach Mr. Isaacs for comment was unsuccessful.
Police say Mr. Isaacs' truck was eastbound on Minton Road when it passed another vehicle and went off the left side of the road, where Devin was standing. He was thrown 30 feet and his backpack was thrown 119 feet.
“After what happened to that child and what he has been through for the last two months, he is doing remarkably well,” family friend Pam Volz wrote in an e-mail message sent to about 50 people who have requested updates.
“We are all so relieved and excited about his recovery,” wrote Mrs. Volz. “But let's not forget what he should have been doing for the last two months ... these are the things that Devin has lost forever. He will never be able to get them back. Somebody took these things away from him.”
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