One year later: Finding strength after trauma

By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org

One year ago today, Sophia Slaven’s young life was nearly shattered along with the bones in her leg after a motorcycle accident.

The Harley she was riding on with her grandfather collided with another vehicle on a turn near Cloverdale, Indiana.

She was wearing a helmet and jeans, but the injuries to her leg were gruesome, recalls Sophia’s mom, Kalie Wallace.

“Her foot/leg got caught between the vehicle and the motorcycle. She fractured her tibia and fibula, her growth plate shattered, and her Achilles tendon was severed,” Wallace said.

Sophia was airlifted to Riley Hospital for Children, where the emergency department team swiftly went to work to assess her injuries, stabilize her condition and prepare her for surgery. (Her grandfather suffered a shoulder injury.)

What followed were multiple operations – both orthopedic and plastic surgery – along with ongoing therapy and adjusting to a new normal for Sophia, now 8, and her family.

“Sophia had an injury that involved the bones and soft tissue of her leg,” explained plastic surgeon Dr. Emma Cordes. “She required several procedures to stabilize the bones and then reconstruct the tissue overlying the lower leg. She is a really brave young lady.”

Orthopedics physician assistant Todd Osterbur said Sophia had “a near complete traumatic amputation” requiring surgical repair of multiple tendons and both the tibia and fibula.

“Additionally, this was a combined effort with Dr Cordes to provide a skin graft for coverage over her open fracture,” he said.

Sophia, who continues to receive follow-up care at Riley, returned to the hospital last month to talk about her accident and to reunite with a very special team member whom she met in the ED.

Carley Simeur, certified child life specialist for pediatric emergency medicine and trauma, was a lifeline for Sophia and her family that September day a year ago.

And Kalie Wallace, who works for IU Health primary care, never forgot.

“Anytime we tell our story, we lead with Carley,” Wallace said, acknowledging how she and her fiancé, as well as Sophia’s dad and other family members were “freaking out.”

“She got us through it,” Wallace said of Simeur. “She was amazing. She was the one who kept all of us going. To this day, I still think about it.”

So what better surprise than to invite Simeur to pop in to this interview to say hi again.

The tears began almost immediately, right after the shock of seeing a person who meant so much to them in the scary hours after the accident.

Sophia saw Simeur first, rounding the corner into the lobby of Simon Family Tower. She stood, eyes wide, as her mom joined her.

“I didn’t think you would remember us,” Wallace and her daughter said as they hugged the child life specialist.

“I remember everything about that day,” Simeur said. “How tough you were. Look at you,” she said to Sophia. “You’re a champ.”

Simeur shared how she worked to calm Sophia and the rest of the family by keeping them informed about what the doctors were doing every step of the way.

“With trauma patients, so much is happening and so many people are talking at once, it’s my job to focus on the child’s mental and emotional state, letting them know they are safe and I am staying with them,” she said.

Depending on the patient’s preferences, she might use tools of distraction, sing, hold hands, give a play-by-play of what’s happening or a combination of those approaches.

“A lot of times, our kids are tougher than I would be,” Simeur said, and that’s how she remembers Sophia, who was conscious throughout the accident, the helicopter flight and the initial treatment in the ED.

“You were a trouper,” Simeur said, “the most resilient, positive little girl who also asked really good questions.”

“She is great about advocating for herself, even when she is nervous, which is a really challenging thing for many patients her age,” agreed Dr. Cordes.

It helped that Sophia had excellent family support, both the surgeon and Simeur said.

“She has recovered very well in no small part due to her attitude and the great support of her family,” Dr. Cordes said. “It has really been a pleasure being involved in her care.”

Sophia carries multiple scars on her leg from the accident and subsequent surgeries and skin grafts, and she is far from fully healed, her mom said. But the progress she has made is due to the medical team, including the ED trauma physicians and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Dan Drake, as well as Dr. Cordes.

She still faces additional procedures, but she is navigating the road ahead with a level of grace seldom seen in an 8-year-old.

She graduated from a wheelchair to a walker to crutches to a boot and now wears a brace for her ankle, continuing to strengthen it in physical therapy.

“She will likely need to wear a brace into her adult years,” Wallace said, describing her daughter as “a tough little cookie.”

The third-grader, who has a 5-year-old brother and a pet raccoon, vows to never again ride on a motorcycle, but she is trying to manage her fears as she becomes more active.

“I’m a lot more careful about things,” she said. “I feel like I can’t do as much as I used to.”

One of those things she can’t do for now is play sports.

“I love softball, and I’m really bummed out that I can’t play.”

Through it all, Wallace said it was the small kindnesses from child life, nurses and physicians that she’ll never forget.

“It was so touching at such a traumatic time. It kind of held us together.”

Photos submitted and by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org