Frontier student happy to go home
By Kate York, kyork@mariettatimes.comArticle Photos
Surrounded by friends, smiling and texting up a storm, 17-year-old Mariah Steele looked like any typical teen Tuesday, with only her cast, crutches and location in a bed at Marietta Memorial Hospital telling a different story.
It's a far cry from where she was two weeks before, only a day after she fell 24 feet while hiking in Scotland, breaking her pelvis, arm and fingers and initially thought to have a broken neck.
In fact, Steele is doing so well that only a day after returning to the U.S. and checking into Marietta Memorial Hospital, she was sent packing Tuesday afternoon.
"I'm just so happy to go home and see my animals," said Steele, a senior at Frontier High School, as she waited to leave the hospital. "I'm OK right now. I'm in a little bit of pain every once in a while, but it's OK."
Injured July 7 while traveling as a student ambassador with the People to People program, Steele was initially thought to have permanent and potentially life-threatening injuries.
"We thought she would be here a lot longer," said Steele's mother, Michelle. "She's doing really well, and we're so proud of her. She's able to get around on crutches now, and she's doing so much better."
Her daughter has made great strides since she first saw her in a Scottish hospital room several days after the fall, said Steele.
"She was very depressed then and had the what ifs, wondering what if I had done this or hadn't done that," she said. "I told her we would have to do baby steps and so we've been setting small goals."
Going home was the biggest goal for Mariah, who has been crossing days off a calendar while hospitalized.
"At the bottom she wrote 'Home Forever' with a heart around it," said her mother. "And she's the heart of our family."
"She's the sticky stuff that puts us together," chimed in Mariah's 8-year-old brother, Mathias.
Making it home for her brother's ninth birthday next week was another goal Mariah had.
"She's been amazing and very positive," said friend Sarah Jarvis, 15, of Sardis, who was with Steele in Scotland when she fell.
Jarvis and Chucky McDaniel, 16, of Sevierville, Tenn., also in Scotland with the group, both made the trip to Marietta Tuesday to visit Mariah.
"It's been really rough," McDaniel said. "We actually saw her fall."
Jarvis said watching her friend plunge over a cliff didn't seem real at the time.
"I didn't really get it until I saw her laying there," she said. "It was very scary."
Steele said she was awake for the entire fall and rescue.
"I just remember trying to grab stuff and then hitting the ground," she said. "It was so fast."
Since the accident, Steele said she has been very comforted by the support from the members of the community, who have called, sent cards, cooked for the family and sent in donations.
"It kind of makes me happy that everyone can come together to support one person," she said. "I've gotten a lot of cards, phone calls, and people have come to visit me."
The outpouring of support had been one of the first things he shared with his daughter when he was able to speak to her, said Mariah's father, Rick.
"I told her that she wouldn't believe how many people love her," he said. "Everyone has shown it."
Steele is expected to be able to start the school year with her classmates and remain as a cheerleader, without the jumps, her parents said. She's expected to fully recover, but the accident has taught the whole family a lesson, Michelle Steele said.
"Watching her now, you realize how much you take for granted - standing up, sitting down, everything," she said. "You shouldn't take life for granted. Life is precious."
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musicgirl4316
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07-24-08 3:17 AM
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All the prayers worked. Thank you Lord for showing just how powerful you can be. Miracles... just amazing.
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Johanna
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07-24-08 1:03 AM
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Life is precious!!! Happy ending and good news!!
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vette7901
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07-23-08 9:40 PM
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Happy she returned home safe.
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brandon24
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07-23-08 2:02 PM
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thankyou god
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