Courtesy photos and videos for NSBNEWS.net.
This Mother's Day is unlike any previous one Sue Root has experienced in 16 years as a mother, with a catastrophic head injury that her middle child, Amy Sue suffered. The 8-year-old was struck by a truck while riding her scooter Jan. 24, and thrown 60 feet. A Sheriff's helicopter flew her to Halifax Medical Center and every day since then has been trying for the Edgewater single mother of three. In the photo are Root's three children, Noah, Amy Sue and Lauren. Noah and Lauren are home-schooled since the accident, which makes it easier on everyone.
EDGEWATER -- Like a horror movie in slow motion, Amy Sue Root was struck by a truck while riding her little pink scooter and thrown 60 feet. She survived the 4:37 p.m. accident on Jan. 24, but her life is forever changed. And so was that of a single mother of three who worked as a hospice nurse. On this Mother's Day, Sue Root is out of a job, low on cash and hoping for a miraculous recovery that doctors have told her to forget about.
.jpg)
"We are all barely hanging on and stressed out completely. We are exhausted spending months away from home in hospitals and we are heart broke that Amy Sue has had to go through this horrific ordeal," the 44-year-old mother said. "I am not willing to admit somedays the serious outcomes and pray every minute for God's intervention."
She has been in and out of hospitals more than she's been home, but on this Mother's Day, at least Sue Root has her family together.
Every day is Mother's Day where Sue Root's responsibilities are concerned and the holiday is no different, though she never envisioned the true meaning of the day until her daughter's circumstances changed the entire family's priorities.
Root said she and her children might not have given much thought in past years to Mother's Day, but that has changed now.
"I took Mother's Day for granted last year," Root said. "I don't take anything for granted anymore. Of course, I'm sad. I'm also grateful for my children."
The ordeal has been trying every day since: The mother lost her job, she's out of money and hoping against hope her daughter's life is extended beyond the first year her doctors have suggested.
"I had one doctor tell me I need to get over the past and deal with reality," Root said of any miraculous recovery. "I believe in my daughter and I believe she is still there."
The day after Mother's Day is no better.
Root was denied unemployment.She had been on medical leave until April 18 with Florida Hospital Hospice care as a registered nurse. Her request for more time off to care for her child was denied and when she balked at coming back to work she said was "terminated."
That job provided an income for the single mom to take care of three growing, healthy kids, including $900 a month rent, $400 monthly for a car payment, $400 in utilities, plus money for food, gas, car insurance and other needs.
The family vehicle, a 2007 Jeep Patriot, was repossessed, cable is gone besides struggling to keep the rent up to date, Root has amassed $700,000-plus in unpaid medical bills from Amy Sue's initial care.
Her mother bought Root a used car, a 1990 4-door Toyota, but she doesn't have money for gas. The family has relied mostly on donations for food and what little money Root's elderly mother can send her in the mail from Michigan. With that, Root has managed to keep her $50 a month cell phone, her only means of calling 9-1-1 if needed. Amy does receive Social Security disability and Medicaid, which the mother had to fight hard for.
Life as the Roots knew it changed forever on Jan. 24, a Saturday.
Amy Sue took out her Razor scooter, which she and her little brother had gotten for Christmas the previous year. She forgot to put her helmet on and the mother was waiting for the boy to come outside. The little girl began skating southbound at the edge of the road (there are no sidewalks on Silver Palm Drive in Florida Shores where the family lives. Suddenly, Amy Sue veered int the road and was struck by a motorist on his front right side and thrown 60 feet. The scooter was obliterated on impact.
There was a lot of blood where Amy Sue landed. "I had to do CPR," the mother recalled this weekend, her voice cracking. "She was dead. She had no pulse."
Arriving paramedics took over and Amy Sue was flown by Sheriff's Air-One helicopter to Halifax Medical Center where she underwent emergency surgery.
Since then, she has been in and out of hospital care, home for good in the last couple of weeks.