Injured woman's friend intent on getting here
By TIM GULLA Ledger Staff Writer tim@gaffneyledger.com

CHERYL GREEN

Crystal Oughton-Skidmore is trying to come back to the Upstate region but the lack of disposable income for a plane ticket from Kentucky, or repairs for a car that isn't up to the 500 mile trip, is making it difficult.

She has faith, though, that she will get here. The job she committed to is too important, she believes.

A lifelong friend of Cheryl Green, a Grover, N.C., woman who's still in a coma since a Christmas Day incident at a Blacksburg travel plaza during which she was thrown from the hood of an alleged shoplifter's car, Skidmore founded a charitable organization to assist Green and her family.

A web site at www.supportcherylgreen. com was established to help raise funds. Now, Skidmore is in the process of organizing a charity concert to help raise funds for Green's family.

A lot will depend on how and when Skidmore can get here, and the community's response to her plans.

Two country music singers, Jenny Goforth, formerly of Kings Mountain, and Preston Long, have agreed to perform at a benefit for Green, Skidmore said. A tentative date for the concert is Feb. 2, though definite word on the venue will come later.

A small benefit can be held in Grover. A large benefit, if warranted, could be held elsewhere in the region.

Green's parents couldn't be reached Sunday evening for an update on their daughter's condition. They have been watching Green's three young children ever since the incident.

Skidmore said she had spoken to Green's husband, who has remained at her bedside at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, and heard some encouraging news Sunday evening. Though Green remains in a coma, Skidmore said she was told Green responded to her husband's ongoing requests for her to move body parts, specifically her right thumb.

"Every day he holds her hand and talks to her," she said.

Thumb movement might not sound like much, but to Skidmore it was a "miracle."

Raising cash for the Green family has been far from easy. The web sites generated about $350 in donations as of Sunday evening, much of the donations coming in small amounts.

Undaunted, Skidmore said she will keep going.

"I am going to accomplish raising enough funds to be able to take care of those kids until their mother can get better," she said.