TRAFALGAR, Ind. — It was a long-awaited homecoming Monday for a Trafalgar teen who was nearly killed in a crash on the way to the state fair in August.
Eighteen-year-old Megan Murray was the most seriously injured of three girls in a pickup truck that rolled off Interstate 65.
She's grateful to be alive.
"It's still a bit rough, but I'm getting there," Murray said.
Murray just started walking again last week, three months after the sideswipe wreck. The truck hit a guardrail and tumbled off the highway near Raymond Street.
Murray and her best friend, Kya Lasley, were ejected. Kya's little sister, Keilyn Stauffer, was trapped in the wreck.
"It is a miracle, I can't say anything more than it's a miracle," Murray said. "The little sister was out of the hospital in four days. My best friend, the driver, was out of the hospital in two weeks. Obviously, I just got back, but I took the brunt of it from 65. So we're all still here."
Murray suffered the most serious injuries.
She needed 30 units of blood. She broke her pelvis in three places and all the ribs on her right side. A rod was put in her leg. Doctors reconstructed her elbow. She was sedated for about a month and doesn't remember the crash.
Murray lives at the end of a long driveway and it's certainly been a long journey home. She spent more than three months away from home with stays at four hospitals. She went from Eskenazi to Methodist to St. Vincent Seton and finally Community North Rehab, where she walked out Monday morning - to cheers and applause from staff.
"I wanted this day forever," said Murray. "On my worst days that I've had, it was always I needed to come home. I wanted to be home, and now I'm here. It's great."
The girls were headed to the Indiana State Fair Aug. 3 when they crashed. They show cattle in 4-H. The boots Murray was wearing that day are back in her bedroom.
As for what Murray is looking forward to the most about being home, she said it was sleeping in her own bed.
"Hospital beds for the last three months have sucked," she said.
Murray will have her gall bladder removed soon and there is still plenty of rehabilitation ahead.
"I do consider myself a miracle. I am extremely lucky to still be alive. I am truly blessed," said Murray.
Murray returns to Indian Creek High School for her senior year next semester and wants to study agribusiness at Texas A & M University next fall.
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