A day before Halloween, the Larkin family survived a horrific accident after being hit by a drunk driver on October 30, 2020 that left then 7-year-old Rylee with a severe traumatic brain injury and a slew of other injuries.

Rylee, her parents, Alyssa and Timothy, and her older brother Ayden were on their way home from a cousin’s birthday celebration around 8 in the evening.

“We got about 5 minutes down the road and there was a Jeep that was traveling head-on towards us so we tried to get out of the way” Alyssa recalls. “The Jeep basically t-boned us on the passenger side—the side Rylee and I were sitting on.”

While Timothy and Ayden were left a little shaken up, both Rylee and Alyssa had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital for their injuries. Although Alyssa would recover quickly, Rylee suffered the worst of it.

Rylee was treated for multiple broken bones, a severe brain injury and a serious laceration caused by the seatbelt from the force of the impact.

“She was in a coma for over a month. She was not even opening her eyes at all, ya know, the prognosis was really, really horrible,” Alyssa recalls of her time in the hospital. “But when we transferred her to CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia), their mindset was a little bit different. They told us there was hope and to not give up.”

So they didn’t.

Today, Rylee’s parents work overtime just to bring her to as many therapy sessions as possible. Most weeks Alyssa drives 2 hours multiple times a week so that Rylee can have access to the many necessary therapies she requires. Her parents hope Rylee can finally return to school soon but it will be on a limited basis as to not interfere with her intensive therapy schedule.

While it’s certainly a miracle that Rylee survived such horrific injuries, Alyssa tells us she has a long road to recovery ahead of her. Since the accident Rylee has not regained the ability to smile or communicate vocally nor can she ambulate or offer any meaningful movements to help during transfer.

When discussing what the family needs to make Rylee’s home care easier, Rylee’s increasing size came up quickly. Now 9 years old, Rylee’s parents are physically struggling to maneuver her around and wanted something to make this easier for years to come.

Thanks to our incredible donors, Holton’s Heroes was able to gift Rylee and her family a motorized lift with tracking so that they can easily transfer her in and out of her wheelchair.

“The lift has made my life a whole lot easier,” Alyssa told us after it was installed. “Now I don’t have to pick up Rylee anymore as I can use the lift and move her right over into her chair or onto the couch.”

While this device is pretty straightforward in what it can do, it’s far from being affordable for most families around the US. It costs thousands of dollars just for the device and a small amount of tracking and that doesn’t include installation.

Thank you for supporting children like Rylee and all of Holton’s friends. You are making a difference in the lives of kids everywhere. Keep being a hero.

Check out some of our other heroes from 2021