PENDLETON, Ind. —
Andrea (Voss) Vellinga, the Pendleton woman critically injured during the Indiana State Fair stage collapse, continues to undergo medical treatment and therapy in Michigan.
During the Aug. 13 accident, Vellinga’s skull was crushed by a falling steel beam. A portion of her skull was removed and she remained in a coma for about five weeks. Since then she has been undergoing treatment and therapy, and has had to re-learn comprehension skills, as well as how to walk, talk and write.
Vellinga’s mother, Sandi Voss, said that her daughter continues to move forward.
Since Dec. 1 Vellinga, 30, has been at a Michigan rehabilitation facility that specializes in brain injuries.
In early December she had to return to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis because an infection had developed around the bone flap that has been used to replaced the missing area of her skull. Doctors had to remove the flap.
Soon after, she returned to Michigan for more therapy, and her next surgery is scheduled for Feb. 20 at Methodist, Voss said. Doctors will add a new bone flap to replace her missing skull bone.
Following that, Vellinga will return to Michigan to continue undergoing physical, occupational, speech, musical and recreational therapy, Voss said.
Vellinga’s husband, Mike, their 5-year-old daughter Lydia, and Voss take turns spending weeks and weekends with Vellinga so that she is never alone.
Vellinga has no memory of the first couple months of her recovery, and doesn’t remember being at the first two hospitals where she was treated. The recovery process for her brain injuries will last about two years, Voss said.
But unlike many people with brain injuries, she has not hit a plateau — she continues to make progress.
“It’s going great,” Voss said. “She works really hard. Her therapists love her. She never complains. She does everything that they ask her to do and more.”
Contact Melanie Hayes: 648-4250, melanie.hayes@heraldbulletin.com
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Related Photos
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A pink ribbon is tied to a fence post at the corner of North East Street and East State Street in Pendleton last August, after Andrea Vellinga was injured in the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Vellinga continues to undergo treatment at a facility in Michigan. Aaron Piper
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