Eat some spaghetti and help Freeburg High student’s recovery from car accident

No one is sure what happened as Torie Morgan was driving to school March 21. Somewhere on the back roads between Smithton and Freeburg, she was involved in a one-car accident.

On Tuesday night, she was moved from intensive care to a step-down unit at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, said family friend Paula Farley.

Torie, 17, and a senior at Freeburg High School, has had four surgeries, two of which involved repairing her shattered pelvis. Lengthy rehabilitation lies ahead and the family is waiting for a bed to become available for her at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital in Maryland Heights, Mo.

“She initially had two collapsed lungs and massive blood loss” as well, said Paula. She received transfusions and her spleen was removed. Now off of a ventilator and breathing on her own, she has a tracheotomy, which leaves her unable to speak.

Paula said she now has a white board and has been able to communicate a bit with her parents, Jenny and Ed Morgan. She hasn’t been asked what happened to cause the accident.

“But we do know that her cell phone was found in her purse,” said Paula.

A benefit spaghetti dinner will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday to help pay for medical expenses. It will be held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Smithton. It is sponsored by the Teen Spirit Youth Group at St. John and St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Paderborn. Torie is a member of the group and Paula and Jenny are co-leaders.

Paula said that Torie worked part time in food service at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine senior center and until this school year had played softball and golf for Freeburg.

“The family has remained so positive,” Paula said, “and while she can’t talk, she is alert and looks so much better as time has gone by.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 8:42 AM with the headline "Eat some spaghetti and help Freeburg High student’s recovery from car accident."