After two sleepless nights filled with worry that his 17-year-old daughter Mariah, just days ago a cheerleader and a teen always on the go, may never walk again, Rick Steele received a call Wednesday morning that he says was a miracle.
A new team of doctors has found that the Frontier High School senior, originally thought to have broken her neck in two places during a fall on a hiking trip in Scotland, has no serious spinal or neck injuries.
"The breaks just aren't there anymore," said Rick Steele, of New Matamoras. "She had a CT scan and everything, and there were two vertebrae crushed and now they're just not. The lady telling me this was in tears because they don't know how to explain it. It's just a miracle."
The immediate trauma to the spinal cord was able to be relieved by unpinching the vertebrae, the family was told.
Mariah Steele fell about 24 feet Monday when she slipped off a hiking path while visiting Scotland as a student ambassador with the People to People program. Along with the initially diagnosed neck injuries, she broke her right hip, right arm and fingers and has a crushed pelvis from the fall.
The good news came when she was transferred to a different hospital in Scotland, where new specialists examined her, Rick Steele said.
"Everybody's praying, and their prayers worked," he said. "I'm one of the happiest dads in the world and when she gets home, I'll be the happiest."
Steele's wife, Michelle, started her trip to Scotland Wednesday and should arrive today to be with her daughter, who still faces a lengthy recovery.
Steele was also awaiting his first telephone conversation with his daughter since the accident, planned for late Wednesday.
The community has been rejoicing since the news broke, said the Rev. Mike Webber, the Steele family's pastor and friend.
"The hospital is absolutely turned upside down by this and so is everyone here as the news spreads," he said. "She may be able to walk across the platform to receive her diploma at Frontier High School this spring."
