SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A family is thankful for the help they’re receiving after a crash left a 14-year-old Parker girl with life-threatening injuries.
Flashing lights filled the construction zone near Hartford on Interstate 90 last Thursday evening. Izzy Webster was driving with her mom over a bridge when she lost control and collided with an oncoming pickup. The crash, which is still being investigated, shut down that part of the interstate for over three hours.
Izzy is now stable and breathing but still has a long way to go. She is currently at Sanford Children’s Hospital with her dad, Steven Webster, right by her side.
Izzy is an 8th grader at Parker, and her dad says she is very outgoing, kind and involved with many sports and other groups from softball and cheer to band.
“She’s just an all-around outstanding individual. She’s super caring and loving. She’s always got a smile on her face. She’s the girl that can walk in the room, she just lights up the room with her smile and those big blue eyes,” Webster said.
Webster says Izzy was in critical condition right after the crash, and put up fight. She is no longer intubated but is still not awake.
“She’s making good steps,” he said. “Still a very long road ahead, unfortunately, but she is breathing on her own, her vitals are pretty stable and she’s here. That’s all that really matters is my little girl is still here with us. She’ll be Ok. She’s a fighter.”
A family friend, Char Schlenker, organized a GoFundMe to help Izzy, which is closing in on $20,000 raised.
“She lights up everybody’s world. She’s a go-getter. She loves to cheer and play softball. She’s into every sport that I can think of and loves going to church and in the community and everything. She’s just an amazing girl,” Schlenker said.
Webster says the support has been overwhelming and incredible.
“It’s a beautiful thing. It’s made this process a little bit easier to have, to know there’s all that support and to know there’s that many people out there that love my little girl just as much as I do it seems like,” Webster said.
And he says he doesn’t plan to leave Izzy’s side.
“I’ve been here since that day and I will not leave here until my daughter leaves here,” Webster said.
Izzy’s mom Tina has been discharged from the hospital. According to the highway patrol, the four people in the other vehicle involved in the crash had minor or non-life threatening injuries.
If you’d like to help Izzy and her family, you can visit the GoFundMe.
There will also be a free-will donation meal, bingo and silent auction at the Parker Community Building at 11 a.m. on April 16.