Girl’s Awakening Is Wish Come True

SANTA ANA — “Sleeping Beauty, it’s time to wake up,” a friend wrote in a note to Amanda Arthur, a 17-year-old who had lain in a coma since a May 23 car accident.

And she has.

Miraculously, the Newport Harbor High School cheerleader has regained consciousness. She is now speaking sentences.

Amanda uttered the words, “Hi Mom, hi Mom,” two weeks ago in response to repeated urging from her brother Sonny, a family friend said.

“The day that she opened her mouth and said that, it was just unbelievable. It was a miracle,” said Ginger Carter, a family friend. “Now when I walk into her room, she recognizes me and raises her hand and waves.”

Amanda, a varsity song captain on the school pep squad, was crammed into a Chevrolet Blazer with nine school buddies when it flipped over at high speed on a curving road along Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach.

Donald Bridgman, 18, was killed in the crash, and 18-year-old Daniel Townsend, like Amanda, was critically injured. He has been released from the hospital.

The driver, Jason Rausch, 18, of Costa Mesa, also a student, has been charged with felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on bail pending an Oct. 27 hearing.

Police said Rausch was not under the influence of alcohol. However, Rausch was speeding when the crash occurred in the 35-mph zone, police said.

Bill Rowlett, Amanda’s respiratory therapist and chief operating officer at Meridian Neuro Care in Santa Ana where Amanda is being treated, said her “recovery is sensational.”

Nurses at Meridian had noticed a gradual awareness when Amanda’s eyes began following the movement of people in her room.

“She just didn’t wake up,” friend Carter said. “Her recovery was a real gradual thing, a gradual process. Then she spoke and that was the moment.”

Carter said Amanda can sit up and eat. Although portions of her right side remain paralyzed, the family has gained renewed hope that the paralysis too may disappear with time.

“I did not expect her to recognize me by name when I first saw her,” Carter said. “But she did, and we talked and she laughed and laughed, and even waved goodbye.”

At the Newport-Mesa Unified School District offices, the news that Amanda had awakened brought immediate joy, especially to Supt. Mac Bernd.

“This is the first time that I’ve heard of this,” Bernd said. “This is wonderful! I think the lesson here is never give up. That, and that all those prayers were answered.”

Since the accident, the community has rallied in Amanda’s support.

On the night of her junior prom, schoolmates in their tuxedos and gowns visited her at the hospital, although she lay in a coma.

To help the family, which has no medical insurance, 3,000 people paid $20 each to hear Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers in a benefit concert.

The crash injured the part of Amanda’s brain that regulates such vital functions as blood pressure and body temperature. Her doctors had cautioned the family that her prognosis was unclear.

Since regaining speech, Carter said, Amanda has rapidly developed other motor skills and given cause for optimism to her mother, Chris Maese, and stepfather, Alex Maese, a self-employed plumber.

Her doctors could not be reached for comment, but her consciousness and speech have prompted them to begin a rehabilitation program.

Peggy Goldwater Clay of Newport Beach, president of the UC Irvine Brain Imaging Center, who has extended a standing offer to underwrite a brain scan for Amanda, said she was delighted about the news.

“It sounds like a miracle to me,” Clay said. “I’m so pleased. I think everybody’s efforts paid off.

“Now I’m anxious to go meet her. I can’t wait.”

A PET scan, Clay said, would be particularly helpful now to show any areas of brain injury.

Amanda has changed physically, Carter said.

“If you see her, you won’t see the same girl you saw in her cheerleading pictures,” Carter warned. “She’s pale, because she hasn’t had any sun for months. But the beautiful girl is there.”

Donations to the Amanda Arthur Recovery Fund may be sent to P.O. Box 3192, Newport Beach, CA 92659.