COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — The family of a girl killed in a head-on crash last Friday is spending Thanksgiving in the hospital this year, praying the girl’s mother makes it through.
“As soon as the gal came out, she just said ‘There’s been an accident and unfortunately, there’s been a death,'” Nick Carollo said, the father of the young girl who died. “That was the worst day of our lives.”
5-year-old Amelia was his only daughter and a daddy’s girl at heart.
“She had me wrapped around her finger,” he said.
Amelia, her mother Amanda and her brother Patrick were driving on Highway 95 north of Sandpoint last weekend on their way to Patrick’s hockey game. An oncoming driver tried to pass multiple cars and hit them head-on.
Everyone involved in the crash was rushed to the hospital, but Amelia died at the scene.
Renee Siers, Amelia’s grandmother said she is thankful a state trooper managed to shield Patrick from seeing his sister’s body at the scene.
“She didn’t have to be alone. In those moments, and most of all, Patrick didn’t have to. Patrick didn’t have to continue to be with her, trying to figure out why she wouldn’t answer him,” Renee said.
All Amelia wanted on that tragic day was to watch her big brother play hockey.
“She was Patrick’s biggest cheerleader. She loved to go to hockey games. She loved to go to practice,” Renee said.
Nick normally goes along to cheer for his son but on that day, he stayed back to watch his two-year-old son.
“I felt guilt over not being in the car, but I’m reminded that if I had been in the car, I’d be in a hospital bed as well,” he said.
He now has to stay strong for his wife who is still fighting for her life.
“I don’t know how we’re supposed to go on without our baby girl. What’s next? I’m just trying to take one day at a time and survive, honestly, and make sure my wife does the same. We need her to make it. We need her to pull through,” Nick said.
“I just want to hold her and tell her it’s going to be okay, but I can’t hold her because she has all these broken bones,” Renee said.
Amanda’s doctors say it will be a long road to recovery, but Nick said he will be by her side every step of the way.
“I’ve been in the hospital nonstop, trying to be a rock for my family the best I can,” he said. “The opportunity will come for me to grieve as well, but really my focus is just trying to be there for her.”
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