Bike dancer recovering

Ramya Kannan and Rajesh B. Nair

Full-face helmet, cardiopulmonary resuscitation saved her

— Photo: Special Arrangement

RESPONDING TO TREATMENT: Hollis Hawthorne, an American bike dancer, who was

injured in an accident off Chidambaram, at JIPMER, Puducherry. Later, she was
shifted to Chennai.

CHENNAI: To those who are taking care of Hollis Hawthorne, an American bike
dancer, injured in an accident on February 24, it seems as if she is finally
turning the corner.

Ms. Hollis is being treated in Apollo Speciality Hospital in Teynampet. She is off
the ventilator, breathes on her own, and responds to deep pain stimulus. Her
neurosurgeon M. Balamurugan is confident that there will be slow improvement over
a period of days or months.

“She is a strong, young lady (31) and all she needs now is good nursing care. I
hope with good physiotherapy and rehabilitation, she will be restored to about 90
per cent of normal activity in six to eight months’ time,” he told The Hindu on
Thursday. He says she may not need an air ambulance; that she can fly back home in
a passenger aircraft.

It was the full-face helmet she was wearing that saved Ms. Hollis’ life, says Dr.
Balamurugan. That, and the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) that kept her alive
all the time she was struggling to breathe after a horrific accident on Kollidam
Bridge in Chidambaram.

On the narrow bridge, a bus tried to overtake a lorry and Ms. Hollis riding a
motorcycle suddenly found herself trapped in the middle. Her boyfriend, Harrison
Bartlett, who was riding ahead could see her lose control and hit the road with
tremendous impact. As the bleeding Hollis struggled to breathe, he did CPR on her.
The crowd that gathered around them found ways to help them: someone called for an
ambulance; others offered water.

A van of German tourists stopped by, picked them up and dove them to a small
clinic south of Chidambaram. They were sent to the Rajah Muthiah Medical College
Hospital, Annamalai University, and then, to JIPMER in Puducherry. JIPMER
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery Rupesh Kumar said Ms. Hollis had suffered
brain stem injury and was in coma. Since there was no spontaneous breathing, she
was put on ventilator support.

Meanwhile, her mother Diane Allison, a qualified critical care nurse, and aunt Joy
Willis flew to Chennai and drove down to Puducherry. They took the decision to
shift Ms. Hollis to Apollo in Chennai. “We’ve had angels all the way,” says Ms.
Allison, “We are so grateful to everyone in India who helped us right through.”
Best medical care

Both she and Mr. Bartlett are confident that Ms. Hollis is receiving the best
medical care in India. “We only want to fly her back because that would mean going
home. Besides, Stanford has offered us free care and Hollis has no insurance,”
says Bartlett.

Ms. Allison is currently paying for hospitalisation expenses. She hopes that the
fundraising effort, which is gathering momentum in the United States, would be
able to help them make the trip back home as soon as Ms. Hollis is ready to go.