By SUE RYAN
News staff writer
June 26, 2007

A 9-year-old girl sat on the bottom half of her bunk bed snuggled up in a Spiderman quilt.

Abby Huffman watched as Lois Lane confronts Lex Luthor in the movie “Superman Returns” on a TV two feet in front of her face. Abby giggled as she explains why she loves the two superheroes.

“They both can fly,” she said. “But Superman is my mostest favorite.”

But Abby won’t be flying anywhere anytime soon. Her mother, Linda Huffman, explains that Abby will be bedridden for the summer months.

“No playing, no soccer, no swimming” Abby recites in a singsong list as she reels off a list of no’s already heard enough times to be memorized.

Her mom interjects. Linda said Abby can’t bend, stretch, take stairs or do any activity that might strain her. She said that after the accident that the doctors advised absolute bed rest until stitches from the surgery heal. Forty stitches crisscross Abby’s labias, which were both torn apart when she suffered pelvic injuries after being run over in a crosswalk.

It was the afternoon of Friday, June 15. Abby had been dropped off at her usual bus stop on Cascade Avenue by Zeman’s Music. She began her two-tenths of a mile walk home toward Hood River Storage.

When she reached the crosswalk between McDonald’s and Safeway, she paused and looked both ways. Then she started across the crosswalk.

“The car didn’t stop, just ran out over her,” said Lori Gildeheus.

She was at the same stop, getting ready to go east. Gildeheus pulled her car out into the median and ran to stop traffic. The impact knocked Abby out of the sidewalk and partially into Cascade Avenue. Help came when someone in a silver van stopped the driver of the car and others came running.

Gildeheus described the car as a “Big Bronco with a lift kit” while the police report lists it as a 1976 blue Chevy Suburban driven by Chondler Curtis of Hood River.

“I don’t know how she escaped being killed because she got hit in the head and then those great, big tires went over her twice and missed her head both times,” Gildeheus said. “I thought Abby was dead.”

Gildeheus’s son, River, and Abby are friends at May Street Elementary where both go to school. Both are special education students. Gildeheus said she was thankful River was distracted and didn’t see what happened.

A police officer showed up at Hood River Storage. Linda said she couldn’t understand him at first and then realized he was saying her daughter was hurt.

“When I pulled up, I thought she was dead,” she said. “But she was talking, didn’t cry, just kept saying ‘he (the driver) didn’t follow the rules’.”

Paramedics transported Abby to Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. Lifeflight then took her to Legacy Emanuel Children’s Hospital in Portland where she underwent several surgeries.

“The hardest part was trying to walk again after the surgeries,” Linda said.

Abby’s legs still tremble. She took a few steps to change positions and sit in a chair. That effort reflected itself in her tightened lips and expression of concentration on her face. Linda said she doesn’t know what spared her daughter. She said the fact that Abby is already 5 feet tall and weighs 115 pounds may have helped.

“But I also think there was just a guardian angel there at the right time that lifted that car up off her,” Linda said.

For now, the family is concentrating on keeping Abby preoccupied. Abby loves to watch Animal Planet and wants to become a veterinarian when she grows up. Her older sister’s boyfriend gave her a shark-tooth necklace because of the girl’s fascination with sharks.

Several friends and neighbors have brought by art supplies because Abby enjoys drawing and it’s something she can do while bedridden. Her mom swaddles her in blankets because Abby can’t seem to get warm. She also doesn’t sleep much at night and has nightmares.

All this has taken its toll on Linda, a single parent, as have the mounting medical bills. While insurance companies debate any potential settlement, Linda is concerned because the price tag for her daughter’s accident is already at $30,000 and expected to increase.

There is more surgery ahead in the future. Linda said because Abby’s female parts were injured, she will have to have reconstructive surgery later on.

“This community rocks though. The report of this child getting hit spread everywhere and so quickly,” she said.

Linda wanted to share her daughter’s story for one purpose. She said since she moved to Hood River in October, she has noticed how fast people drive on Cascade Avenue and pull out while ignoring pedestrians.