‘Gorgeous’ teen fighting for her life in hospital after horror tractor crash
The sister of a 'gorgeous' 19-year-old has spoken out about the tragedy their family is facing after a horrific tractor crash left the teen fighting for her life in intensive care.
Chloe-Mae Maguire has told how younger sibling Lucie Maguire, from Loftus, North Yorkshire, is in critical condition after being hit by a tractor on Wednesday, January 27, leaving the diabetic teen in a coma with both life-threatening and life-changing injuries.
The collision, which happened around 5.17pm last week, happened on Fountains Road between Ripley and Bishop Thornton, after Lucie and her mum's siver 4×4 broke down on the side of the road.
A GoFundMe page set-up by a close family friend, Helen Walton, explains Lucie was hit "whilst trying to rescue her mum from a smoke filled car".
A police appeal has detailed that the tractor "did not initially stop at the scene", but that the driver was quickly traced by officers and has "assisted police with their investigation and was subsequently released under investigation while enquiries continue."
The horrific accident has left college student and nursery assistant Lucie with a shattered pelvis and damaged organs, leading to a full amputation of her right leg – leaving her wheelchair bound for life – and needing a colostomy bag as her bowel and bladder now needing multiple surgeries.
Sister Chloe-Mae, who works as a photographer, is absolutely heartbroken, and is appealing for kind messages and videos of support for Lucie when she wakes up, as the teen is currently unaware of her injuries.
Writing on Facebook the day after the accident, she said: "My darling girl , my best friend… This is the start of a very tough journey for you and I know you will have your struggles but we will all be by your side every step of the way."
Lucie, who also helps out at hers and Chloe's parents' pub in Kirby Malzeard, suffers from diabetes, an ongoing battle she has fought for years and is receiving treatment for.
Chloe added: "Lucie has increasingly high blood sugars every day, she may not eat and her blood sugars can be at 20+. She suffers from the side effects of medication and until now she has really struggled."
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The injured teen also struggled with her mental health, which is why her family and friends are appealing for people's help.
Captioning her Twitter appeal, Chloe said: "I'm asking for you to take a minute of your time to read her story and learn a little about my gorgeous sister.
"I would be forever grateful for any messages, videos of Words of support. She is the most loving and caring young girl and has so much of her life ahead of her at only 19.
"This would mean the absolute world to her to have some gorgeous messages to wake up to. Thank you in advance – Lucie’s Big Sister".
The tweet, which was posted yesterday morning, has since attracted over 8K likes, with many huge names such as the Liverpool FC team offering videos of support.
A family friend's GoFundMe page for Lucie, titled 'Support for Lucie's recovery after a leg amputation', has since raised over £16K.
Helen Walton, who set up the fundraiser, has written of the Maguire family: "My friends are a hard working family who run a pub in Kirkby Malzeard in North Yorkshire.
"Like a lot of hospitality businesses they have been hit by the lockdown and now their world has been turned upside down due to a tragic accident in which their 19 year old daughter Lucie was involved whilst trying to rescue her mum from a smoke filled car.
"Lucie is presently fighting for her life and is in a critical condition in the Leeds General Infirmary. She is receiving life saving treatment which has resulted in her having various operations of which one has resulted in her losing a leg."
Helen explains that the teen will have a very "long and challenging road ahead of her", adding that the family will be impacted financially too as they'll have to accompany her through long journeys to and from Leeds – a three hour round trip – and by setting up all the necessary adjustments to help with her rehabilitation back home.
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As Lucie won't be able to walk after her surgeries, many expensive changes and renovations will need to be made to the family home in order to make it accessible.
These could mean a suitable shower room renovation, a downstairs bedroom conversion, hand rails, ramps, wheelchairs and more, which usually cost tens of thousands of pounds.
Helen added: "I am hoping to raise funds to support Lucie and this hardworking family through a very challenging time to give them one thing less to worry about at this difficult time.
"Any donations will be greatly appreciated no matter how small and if you are unable to donate then please just share this story."
North Yorkshire Police are appealing for anyone with dash-cam footage, witnessed the collision or who saw the vehicles involved on Fountains Road to contact them.
In a statement, they wrote: "The broken down silver Hyundai 4×4 had been travelling away from Ripley.
"The tractor was a green John Deere towing a flat trailer carrying bales wrapped in black plastic. It was also travelling away from Ripley.
"Police are particularly keen to trace a car which was believed to have been travelling towards Ripley at the time of the collision and may have witnessed the collision or seen the tractor passing the broken down 4×4."
Any witnesses are asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2 and ask for Alison Hoyle, quoting reference 12210045363.
You can also e-mail Traffic Constable Hoyle on [email protected]
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