Clerk will be reunited with kids
By TIM GULLA Ledger Staff Writer tim@gaffneyledger.com

For the first time in a month, three young children from Grover, N.C., soon will be reunited with their mother.

Cheryl Green has been hospitalized in Charlotte since Christmas Day recovering from a severe head injury she suffered when she was thrown from the hood of a car while trying to stop alleged shoplifters from leaving a Blacksburg service station.

Her young children initially were kept away from the hospital because of Green's injuries and critical condition. Later, the children were kept away due to their mother's difficulties with memory.

"I didn't want it to be too traumatic on the children," her husband, Matt, said Thursday evening.

But with each passing day, Matt Green said his wife has been doing better and better. On Thursday, while she was talking with visiting relatives and friends, Matt Green said the fog shrouding his wife's memories lifted even more.

"She originally was having trouble remembering the kids' names," he said.

On Thursday she remembered the full name of her youngest child, a name which had been giving her the most trouble.

"That impressed me," said Matt, who has visited his wife's bedside every day since Christmas.

With his wife's memory and condition greatly improving, the Green family is planning to reunite Cheryl with her children Saturday.

Cheryl's mother, Ann Robinson, had visited her on Monday and was able to witness her daughter walking, albeit with some assistance. Seeing her again on Thursday, Robinson said her daughter has made even more strides.

"She was even better than I had imagined," she said. "She's ready to come home now. Every time we come in, she wants to pack her bags and come home tomorrow."

Matt Green said the current estimate from the hospital is that his wife will be released in about two and a half to three weeks.

Lifelong friend Crystal Oughton-Skidmore, who has been traveling back and forth from Kentucky to help look after the Green's children, organized a charitable foundation to help raise funds for Cheryl's care and children at www.supportcherylgreen.com . Skidmore said on Thursday plans are progressing for a charity concert by country music performer Preston Long, which tentatively is scheduled for Feb. 2 at the Grover Rescue Squad.