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Injured clerk out of coma; takes steps
Her daughter didn't do it alone. She supported herself by gripping safety bars while two people steadied her from the front and behind at a Charlotte rehabilitation center. Yet the steps Cheryl Green took marked a drastic improvement from just two weeks ago, when she still was in a coma. "It was fantastic," Robinson said of her daughter's steps. But while Green's steps were encouraging, they represent just a small distance traveled on a very long road to recovery. Green, a mother of three young children from Grover, suffered a traumatic head injury on Christmas morning when she was thrown from the hood of a vehicle while trying to stop two alleged shoplifters from leaving the Wilco Travel Plaza in Blacksburg. Green was a clerk at the roadside business. She had been comatose until earlier this month. There's a chance Green might be released from the hospital in about three weeks, her doctors informed family. A planned meeting with her health care providers later this week should answer many questions and shore up details, Robinson said. If she's coming home, Robinson said the family will need to make many preparations at the house so they can care for her. Plus, doctors have informed the family that Green will need 24-hour care for the immediate future. Green also still has difficulties with her memory, Robinson said. "She certainly knew her father and myself without any problem," she said. "I think the question now is exactly what time frame she's in." Green sometimes thinks it's 1999, the year her oldest child was born. At other times she thinks it's the year her second child was born. Memories of her three children have wavered. "I'm sure she's got to be terrified. She has no idea, really, what happened to her and what's going on," Robinson said. The Robinson and Green families had initially put Christmas on hold in the hopes they could celebrate it when Green recovered from her injuries. Robinson said they eventually celebrated Christmas with her daughter's children, believing they couldn't put it off any longer. However, the family may celebrate a little bit of Christmas again when Green returns home. The Robinsons kept their Christmas tree up just for that reason. A lifelong friend of Green's, Crystal Oughton-Skidmore, has been traveling back and forth from Kentucky to help care for Green's children. Skidmore set up a charitable foundation for Green at www.supportcherylgreen.com. Skidmore also is organizing a motorcycle benefit ride, details of which will be announced soon. |
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