A girl critically injured in a Panama City Beach parasailing crash has stood and walked for the first time since the incident, and has returned to her home state.
Sidney Good, 17, walked a short distance on Saturday, according to a news release by her family. She has been speaking more over the last few days, according to the release, and is recovering her memory of July 1, the day of the crash. She was released Sunday morning from Bay Medical Center and flown to Indianapolis for further medical evaluation, and possibly further surgery.
Good and her 17-year-old friend Alexis Fairchild, who are from Roanoke, Ind., each suffered major head and neck trauma in the incident. They were parasailing when a storm with strong winds hit the area, and their parasailing line detached. Wind gusts carried the girls to shore, where they collided with a high-rise hotel and a parked SUV.
Fairchild was also critically injured in the incident and had several surgeries. She was released Thursday from Bay Medical Center, and is recovering at a rehabilitation hospital in Indianapolis.
“(Sidney Good) is not yet ready for a rehabilitation hospital and will not be at the same hospital as Alexis, but we look forward to getting them together again sometime soon,” wrote the Good family.
The family also thanked Bay Medical Center and residents of the Panama City area for their support.
“We would like to personally thank Bay Medical Center for the outstanding care they have provided our daughter since the accident,” the statement reads. “We would also like to thank the people of Panama City for the prayers and caring during this terrible time in our lives. We hope to return sometime when both of the girls are well and see all of our new friends again. And of course, enjoy a beach vacation.”