A South Thomaston teenager who was hit by a car and left beside the road with multiple, severe injuries Monday morning was able to wiggle her toes and text friends Wednesday, signaling the start of her long road to recovery.
Emily Miller’s stepfather, Glen Hilt, wrote on her GoFundMe page that her surgery went well, and she started physical therapy on Wednesday at Maine Medical Center. She also received a surprise visit from Mosley, a hospital therapy dog, following surgery.
“Nurse also reported she passed one of the biggest tests … she was texting,” Hilt wrote. “She has a long road ahead of her, but she is a fighter.”
Hilt created a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help pay for his daughter’s medical costs. As of Wednesday evening, he had raised more than $5,500 toward his goal of $10,000.
“Waking up to all the prayers and awareness being spread I’m extremely thankful for all the support and encouragement to get past whatever pain I may encounter,” Emily wrote in a message to her well-wishers. She added that she was, “wiggling my toes so that is good, trying to distract myself from my fractures,”
Miller told her parents, Glen and Julie Hilt, that she was walking Monday morning, around 9:15 a.m., in the Knox County town of Washington when she stopped to take a photograph of a caterpillar. As she was bending over, a motor vehicle struck her. That was the last thing she remembers.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the crash, said the driver did not stop, but a passer-by did and notified emergency responders. The crash took place on West Washington Road, which is also known as Route 206.
Miller was flown by LifeFlight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland. She suffered a broken leg, broken ankle, a fractured wrist and a shattered pelvis. Family members said it could take months for the teenager, a student at Oceanside High School in Rockland, to recover.
A dispatcher for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday evening said the driver in the hit-and-run has not come forward. Anyone with information about the incident is being asked to contact Detective Dwight Burtis at (207) 594-0429, ext. 722.
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