DAYTON — An 18-year old woman is recovering at Miami Valley Hospital following a crash in Dayton.
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It happened on April 6 at the intersection of Santa Clara Avenue and Main Street in Dayton when a car struck a person and kept going.
News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott spoke with the teen’s parents Thursday. Her mother said I’sice Thomas, her daughter, had the right of way when she was crossing the street and cannot understand the type of person who would hit someone with their car and leave them broken on the ground.
Thomas was ready to graduate from high school and eager to start her life.
But now, she will not even be able to walk across the stage to get her diploma.
“I almost fainted,” said Senequa Gladden. “(I) basically fell done to the ground because I was just in shock.”
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McDermott says Gladden did not know what happened to her child for three days.
“We didn’t know where she was due to her not having her ID on her,” she said.
Eventually, she found I’sice at the hospital.
“She was unrecognizable,” said Gladden. “And luckily, she had just gotten that tattoo for her 18th birthday. Had she not had that tattoo, you know, who knows if I would have even found her?”
McDermott says ever since the crash, I’sice has been either lying in her hospital bed for her life or on an operating table.
“She’s still on the ventilator,” said Gladden. “She’s had brain surgeries. She has suffered a stroke. They also found fluid on her brain and had to go in just the other day and do another surgery to get the fluid out of her brain.”
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She said seeing her child in this condition is beyond painful.
“They had to remove most of her skull,” Gladden told McDermott. “So, that’s also hard to deal with because there’s a sticker on the side of her head that says, ‘no bone,’ which is very difficult. She’s never been hurt before. So, to suffer something like this, it was just traumatic.”
I’sice’s mom and dad are tying to spend as much time at the hospital as they can.
“I’m not working at the moment,” she said. “You know, I’m trying to be by her bedside, but it’s kind of put a strain on us.”
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McDermott says both are prepared to always stand by their daughter.
“I probably will be taking care of her forever for the rest of her life which is fine,” said Gladden. “You know, that’s my child, but things are going to be different now.”
McDermott says the parents want justice for their daughter.
They ask if you have any information about this hit and run crash to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
If you would like to help the family with their medical bills, you can donate by visiting this website.