A Clovis family spent their Christmas inside a Lubbock hospital after 14-year-old Dakota Revell was critically injured while sitting on the back of a moving car on December 21st.
Revell’s mother, Veronica, said her daughter was sitting on the trunk of a car while riding around the parking lot at Clovis High School. When the sophomore fell off, her mother said her head took most of the impact.
“I got there and she was on the ground,” Veronica Revell said. “EMS was there already trying to strap her down to the flat board and she was fighting them. It was hard to see.”
Dakota’s father, older sisters Kayla and Hayley, little brother and grandparents have been by her side since the accident. Doctors have kept Revell sedated so her brain can heal.
“She fell, she had a really big contusion bump on her forehead,” Veronica Revell said. “On this [right] side she also has a fracture. Of course when you fall that hard the brain is going to shift, so she had a really big hematoma, a blood clot on the left side of her temporal lobe. They did remove a big part of her skull because they have to leave room for it to swell.”
Doctors will not know what Dakota is capable of or how much therapy she will need until she wakes up. Her mother said her levels were stable as of Wednesday afternoon and doctors will slowly try to take her off some of the medications in the next few days.
The Revell’s are staying at the Lubbock Ronald McDonald House while Dakota recovers. Veronica said she tries not to cry anymore, she said she wants to be strong for Dakota.
Instead, Veronica Revell wants to warn other parents of the dangers of car surfing.
“I had no idea what it is or what it was,” Veronica Revell said. “I didn’t even know they were doing it at the school. I don’t know if she has done it before. Kota is a good kid but if someone dares her to do something, like car surfing, obviously she is going to probably try and do it.”
The Washington Post reported seven young people died in 2016 becuase of car surfing. One of those deaths was in Albuquerque.
“My message to everybody,” Veronica Revell said. “I just want this I want the kids to understand that what happened obviously is something the kids do more often than we think. Everybody just thinks were invincible, it can’t happen to them. I just want them to realize that it is very dangerous and unfortunately for Dakota it didn’t end well, so far.”
A friend started a GoFundMe page to help with Dakota’s recovery expenses. If you would like to donate, click here.
