Last May, 12-year-old Elizabeth Gilreath fell from a carnival ride, causing her hair to get tangled in the ride’s mechanisms, tearing off a large portion of her scalp. Nearly a year later, the brave victim refuses to let the injury define who she is as a person, sharing messages of inspiration about how she got through the ordeal.
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“My scars don’t define me. Nobody’s scars should define them,” Gilreath revealed when speaking with NBC News.
Elizabeth’s mother, Virginia Cooksey, revealed how much of an inspiration her daughter is, as she detailed her daughter’s bravery.
“She can get through anything,” Cooksey said. “It’s what keeps me going. It’s what keeps me strong.”
Due to the severity of her injuries, doctors feared that she might lose her eyesight completely. The swelling of her eyes was incredibly severe, but she has regained her visual competency.
When speaking to WOTW, Cooksey explained, “We have our good days and we have our bad days. It’s been very stressful, really stressful. It’s going to be a long road.”
In addition to her physical injuries, Elizabeth with incredibly disappointed that she had to lose all of her red hair to undergo surgeries to repair her injuries. Luckily, at least half of her curly red hair has grown back.
“I loved my hair. It was extremely rare,” Elizabeth reminisced.
Elizabeth’s friend, Aushanay Allen, recalled the day when the tragedy occurred, saying, “There’s nothing we could do and so I stood up and I was like yelling, I was like, ‘Stop the ride. Stop the freaking ride.’”
Another mom on the ride, Jolene Cisneros, intervened when the situation turned dire, recalling to WOWT, “I had to stop it with my hands and turn it to the point where it was to the platform. I was like, ‘You’re going to be okay’ and she’s just like, ‘Where’s my pretty hair?”’
The Nebraska Department of Labor held an investigation into the incident to see who or what was at fault, but found that neither ‘any portion of the ride’ nor was it the result of the operator not paying attention.
Cooksey is currently engaged in multiple lawsuits, but ultimately, she says, “Our whole goal is to raise awareness for better safety laws and better rules and regulations for not only my children but for other children.”
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[H/T Daily Mail]
