An 11-year-old Idaho girl will celebrate her 12th birthday in an ICU in Salt Lake City on Saturday while she continues to recover from being tossed underneath an RV as it crashed on Teton Pass on the night of Aug. 17.
Neeka Korn was riding in her grandparents' RV with her brother and father when the motor home was involved in a crash with a passenger vehicle. She ended up underneath the motor home, a family friend said.
“Neeka remains in critical condition,” Samantha Osborn told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. “She is still intubated, she is in kidney failure, so she is on dialysis. However, she is responsive.”
Wyoming Highway Patrol spokesperson Aaron Brown said Tuesday he did not yet have a final report on the incident and it remains under investigation.
Brown reported on Aug. 18 that what callers described as a multi-vehicle incident with multiple injuries was not what troopers found when they responded that evening.
“The incident involved only two vehicles,” Brown said. “A passenger vehicle and a recreational vehicle pulling a trailer. … A juvenile occupant of the motorhome was airlifted with serious injuries.”
Osborn listed Korn's injuries as a broken leg that required surgery, injuries to her spleen that required a procedure to stop the bleeding, other broken bones, and internal injuries.
After an initial life flight to a pediatric ICU in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Korn was flown to Salt Lake City.
Osborn said became friends with Neeka’s mom, Michelle Korn, after her son, Sawyer, and Neeka were both in Michelle Korn’s kindergarten class in Meridian, Idaho, a suburb of Boise. They have remained close friends since and attend their kids' sporting events and holiday parties.
Single Mom
Osborn launched a GoFundMe to help Korn, a single mother who also has an 8-year-old son. The son was able to jump out of the motorhome before it collapsed, she said.
Michelle Korn faces medical leave from her teaching role to care for her daughter. She also will have the costs of commuting, hotels, and additional medical expenses that won’t be covered by insurance, Osborn said.
Neeka was set to go into sixth grade when the school year launched.
“Neeka’s birthday is this weekend, so we’re asking for any cards or videos that people want to make to send along,” Osborn said. “It’s hard, because she’s in the ICU, so there’s not a lot that can be in the room.”
Drink Request
While on a ventilator, Neeka has communicated using a white board or with sign language, Osborn said. One of her first messages she shared was that she wanted a “matcha latte” drink.
Because she was pinned underneath the motorhome, her internal organs received a lot of trauma but she escaped neurological injury, Osborn said. She said Neeka also has started physical therapy while on her ventilator and was able to play tic-tac-toe with a therapist.
Osborn said the girl loves to play third base on her softball team.
“Neeka is a very carefree, fun-loving spirit. She’s so sweet,” Osborn said. “She has the best reaction to getting presents or being excited … and she’s so thankful for everything around her and just so happy all the time.”
Osborn said she is thankful for the community support Korn has already received through the GoFundMe. She said many in the community know Michelle Korn through her role as a teacher.
“We just appreciate all of the support and help with meeting their needs,” Osborn said. “It is a very long difficult road.”
The latest accident followed a fatal crash on Teton Pass in July. Safety on the pass and other challenges drew more than 200 people to the Old Wilson Schoolhouse earlier this month to discuss the 17-mile corridor.
With a 10% grade at some points, Teton Pass from the Jackson area to eastern Idaho carries 10,000 vehicles per day in winter and about 15,000 daily during the summer tourism season, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
According to WYDOT, crashes on the pass have increased about 20% over the past five years.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
