(La Porte, IN) - A La Porte woman is paralyzed from the waist down after a large tree fell on her moving vehicle while driving to work last month.
Kaity Schultz, 37, on Monday remained at Memorial Hospital in South Bend where she was airlifted following the May 18 accident. Her husband, Chris, said she’s waiting to be transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Chicago where her stay is expected to be for at least four weeks.
“We’re just waiting on an open bed to go there, so, that’s good news,” he said.
Mr. Schultz said his wife is not able to use her legs due to paralysis from the crushing injuries to her spine damaging her spinal cord. If not for that and extreme pain that’s now subsiding, Mr. Schultz said it would be hard for anyone to tell she had been in an accident.
“No trouble talking. No trouble eating. She really has no other injuries,” he said.
Schultz said his wife dropped off their four-year old son, J.T., at Door Prairie Christian Daycare and School in La Porte and began heading to work for an insurance company where she’s a customer service manager in Michigan City.
According to La Porte County Police, the woman was northbound on Fail Road just outside the La Porte city limits when a tree along the west side of the road was uprooted apparently by the close to 20-mile-per-hour winds at the time. The tree landed on top of her 2012 GMC Acadia and blocked both lanes of travel.
Kankakee Township Volunteer Fire Department Capt. Zach Rosiuk said the roof of the SUV was partially smashed in on the passenger side by the tree, which was lifted off the vehicle by a tow truck equipped with a boom. Emergency responders were then able to safely cut into the vehicle and free the woman from the wreckage.
She was loaded into a medical helicopter that landed in a nearby field and flown to the hospital in South Bend for advanced care.
La Porte County Police Maj. Pat Cicero, a 26-year veteran of the department, held her hand and kept giving her words of encouragement during the entire close to two hours it took to free her from the SUV. Mr. Schultz said his wife was awake the whole time and talked to the officer, who later paid her a visit in her hospital room and brought her flowers.
“As soon as he walked in, she knew right away who he was. She was real grateful he showed up to wish her well,” he said.
At the time of the accident, Mr. Schultz was in Reno, Nevada taking part in a national bowling tournament. He was notified about the crash and his wife being prepared for surgery not long after the accident happened and quickly booked a flight home. Schultz said he didn’t know much more about her condition until he was at her bedside in the intensive care unit about 12 grueling hours later.
He said his wife struggled a lot emotionally the first couple of days because the life-changing accident was such a fluke and it happened after her mother recently lost a long battle with lung cancer. Schultz said her spirits have since lifted, though, from many family members and friends reaching out with words of support.
“Mentally, she is in a really good place right now. She’s motivated to do the rehab. The pain is not as bad as it was. Things are looking positive mentally,” he said.
Mr. Schultz said doctors are not giving her much of a chance at walking yet haven’t ruled out the possibility. Once she returns home, he said his wife wants to get back to a normal life as much as possible in a wheelchair by attending her son’s t-ball games again, driving and returning to work.
“The end goal is whether it’s a month or two or maybe a couple of years would be to finally walk again,” he said.
A Go Fund Me page set up to help the family with medical expenses had raised over $96,000 as of Monday afternoon.
