Righetti High School student Cassandra Quesada liked art and skateboarding and hoped to join her high school’s soccer team when the season started. Instead, she will spend the next few months learning to walk, talk, and eat, after getting hit by a car on her way to school, Sept. 9.
The 14-year-old has been in an induced coma since the accident and was scheduled for surgery Wednesday, Sept. 16. As of press time her family said doctors were hoping to slowly bring her out of the coma a few days after the surgery and then start therapy.
Prior to that surgery, her family expressed hope that recovery would be swift. Her father, Jose Freddy Quesada, said, though she was in a medically induced coma, she began to move her arms and legs when she heard his voice or her mother’s. Doctors said that was a good sign.
“It’s hard. It’s hard to see her like that, but we’ve seen so much progress, and it makes us happy. But it also makes us sad and hurt seeing her lying there. She shouldn’t be there,” he said.
While doctors said Cassandra’s condition is progressing, they also told family that her recovery could take months or even a year, her aunt Maria Paz said.
Paz said the community has been supportive both spiritually and financially. “We’re so thankful that people have been coming out and giving us that support, and we’re so thankful for the people who have been praying,” Paz said.
To help with medical costs, the family started a GoFundMe account. Donors can contribute to the Help Quesada Family After Tragedy fund at www.gofundme.com/a93u7e4c.
Cassandra’s family said she’s always been a happy girl. The oldest of five siblings, she is, according to her brother “a great babysitter.” Her father said she is known at home and at school as a person who likes to joke around with others.
She suffered major injuries when a Chevy El Camino struck her while she was crossing Foster Road at Woodland Street in front of the school. The California Highway Patrol declined to comment because the investigation is ongoing.
Quesada vows to be an advocate for increased pedestrian safety around the school.
Compared to the state, Santa Barbara County, (Righetti sits in the county’s unincorporated area), ranks second worst for the number of pedestrians 15 and younger killed or injured in traffic collisions. There were 31 such incidents in 2012—the most recent year for statistics, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. The county ranks fifth worst in the state when it comes to the number of pedestrians older than 15 and younger than 65 killed and injured in traffic collisions, with 173 such incidents in 2012.
“I wouldn’t wish this on any other parent, kid or human being,” Quesada said. “I’m going to speak out for a lot of stop signs and crosswalks around the schools. I’m going to speak out. I’m going to speak out a lot.”
This article appears in Sep 17-24, 2015.