McHenry girl hit by truck while riding bicycle remains hospitalized, condition improving

Moira Arjona, the 11-year-old McHenry girl seriously injured on Friday evening when a pickup truck hit her as she was bicycling home, is recovering at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, her parents said Monday.

According to the McHenry Police Department, the Ford F-150 pickup truck continued south on Curran Road following and the accident at Dartmoor Drive before being found “shortly later” at Bull Valley and Crystal Lake roads.

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Police said the driver of the pickup truck, Patricia A. Bredehorst, 76, of Harvard, has been charged with failure to give aid or information following an injury accident, a Class A misdemeanor. The driver was also cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and for expired registration, according to police, who also said the investigation continues.

Moira, a sixth-grader at Parkland Middle School in McHenry, was crossing Curran at Dartmoor at the time of the crash, about 4:30 p.m. Friday, police said. The crosswalk’s rectangular rapid flashing beacons, the signs with lights that warn drivers of a pedestrian crossing the road, were activated at the time, according to a McHenry police news release Monday.

Less than 10 minutes before the crash was reported, Moira’s mother, Amanda Arjona, was driving food to her ex-husband’s house and saw Moira bicycling home from a local park, she said.

“She gets mad at us about the same things she used to get mad at us about.”

—  Amanda Arjona, mother of 11-year-old hit by pickup truck Friday

Amanda Arjona said she stopped and offered Moira a ride, but her daughter pointed out she would have to leave her bike behind but joked she’d race her mom home.

“I told her to make sure you press the button for the crosswalk,” Amanda Arjona said. Her daughter replied “Mom, I always do,” Arjona said.

She was starting to wonder why her daughter was taking so long to return to her father’s house when a neighbor knocked on the door. It was one of Moira’s father’s neighbors, who told them Moira had been hit at the intersection.

She jumped in her car and drove to the intersection to find her. Moira’s dad, Lee Arjona, and his mother did the same.

“The police officer grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go into the ambulance,” Amanda Arjona said when she got to the scene.

She could hear her daughter screaming in the ambulance. She took that as a good sign – if it was quiet, it meant the injuries were even more serious.

A McHenry Township Fire Protection District ambulance took Moira to Northwestern Medicine McHenry before being flown to Lutheran General.

They were told Moira had a concussion, a skull fracture and rib fractures, and she needed a chest tube in to help her breathe.

That tube was removed on Sunday, Lee Arjona said. A neck brace remained in place Monday, and Moira will likely remain in bed until at least Tuesday, when another MRI is scheduled. No major broken bones were reported.

But Moira is awake and texting with friends, Amanda Arjona said.

“She is tired and sleepy from the [medication] but her mannerism, her spirit, is still there. She gets mad at us about the same things she used to get mad at us about,” Amanda Arjona said.

They both plan to stay at the hospital while Moira recovers. Both will miss work, and there will be medical bills.

Lee Arjona has already missed some work. He had five-way bypass surgery last week and was released from the hospital on Wednesday. That is why Amanda was bringing dinner to her ex-husband on the day of the crash. Both of the divorced couple’s daughters had been staying with their father as he recovered, she said.

A GoFundMe account, Help Moira’s road to recovery, has been set up to help cover medical costs.