Jessalyn Torres

Eleven-year-old Jessalyn Torres, a member of the Waukesha Xtreme Dance Team, was rammed by a career criminal driving an SUV through the Waukesha Christmas Parade. She reportedly heard the commotion behind her, turned around, was struck directly in the chest by the car's grill and thrown 20 to 30 feet. She obviously arrived at Waukesha Children's Hospital in critical condition and was on life support for over a week.
She spent Thanksgiving unconscious and clinging to life, breathing with the help of a ventilator. In a Thanksgiving note to her family and friends, Jessalyn's mother described the agony of watching her child struggle to breathe.
Four other members of the dance team also required care in the ICU. I've not looked into their stories.
Jessalyn's injuries include (but not limited to)
- lost kidney
- three breaks in her pelvis
- broken femur
- lacerations on her lungs and only kidney
- liver damage
- internal bleeding
- skull fracture
- extensive road rash (infection from that alone can be fatal)
- much bruising around her face and body.
Eleven days after the accident, she woke up and was heard saying: "Just glue me back together."
Twenty-four days later (Dec 15), she was released and returned home. She still has a long road to recovery. Doctors advised it will be six to eight months before she is walking regularly on her own.
Her homecoming is documented in this three-minute video.
A post from Dec. 17 reads "Jessalyn’s breathing sounds like a hundred-year-old smoker. We are heading back to childrens hospital. I want to cry but im staying positive its just a need for breathing treatments. I know she had a ton of damage to her chest from the vehicle so we have to be cautious."
I can't imagine what her medical care bills will be. A GoFundMe page was created to assist with Jessalyn's recovery and support.

Here are some updates to her ongoing recovery and complications since she was discharged on Dec 15, 2021:

Date	Report
Dec_20, 2021	trachea surgery to improve her breathing scheduled in two days
Dec_27, 2021	snow/ice makes getting her into their vehicle about a 30 minute process
Dec_29, 2021	Hematoma gone, eye damage has healed, vision 20/20
Jan_03, 2022	inhaling included whistling, another trachea surgery required
Jan_07, 2022	Trachea surgery went well. Surgeon used laser to break away some of the scar tissue. Scaring was worse this time. Trachea was about the size of a McDonalds straw but should be garden hose size. Another surgery scheduled in 2 weeks. If it doesn't look better, then he will use a chemo med. If that doesn't work, then a much larger procedure will be required.
Jan_17, 2022	breathing has been better, trachea surgery scheduled for Jan_21
Apr_06, 2022	discharged from her 6th surgery
Jun_04, 2022	Having a rough time recovering from her 7th surgery. High BP (180/120) to low BP, oxygen sat in the 80s, pulse from 160, then much lower. Basically, stabilizing her is challenging.

All of this suffering (six dead, 60+ injured) because a derganged lunatic, who recently injured a woman with the same vehicle, was out on bond. I wish those who implement liberal bail reform policies would pay closer attention to the realities of their decisions -- but no.

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