The mother of a Massachusetts teenager critically injured in an accident on Route 4 in Rangeley on June 1 said her daughter is doing well but has a long way to go for a complete recovery.
Janessa Gordon, 18, of Melrose, Mass., was a front-seat passenger in a car when the driver lost control and it went off the road and rolled over.
“Janessa is doing very well,” her mother, Kim Lepito, said Tuesday. “To quote one of the doctors, she is making a remarkable recovery. It is nothing less than a miracle of God, and we are so grateful that He is answering our prayers.”
Gordon was treated at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston until June 6, when she was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
“She is no longer in ICU and is now in a regular room,” Lepito said. “She will eventually head over to rehab. She still has a long road to complete recovery, but we have seen what God has done so far, and are confident He will finish what he started.”
Lepito thanked those who have been praying and thinking of her daughter.
A mock accident drill put on by public safety officials at Rangeley Lakes Regional School last week hit home with the accident still fresh and everyone’s minds, Rangeley police Chief Dennis Leahy said. Several people were crying, he said.
“Even though Janessa wasn’t drinking or doing anything she wasn’t supposed to (except not wearing a seat belt, which she usually always does), the kids need to make sure their friends are responsible drivers as well,” Lepito said. “If my daughter’s story can save another family from this heartache, and let people see that God hears and answers prayers, then that will make me happy.”
The driver of the car, Marilenis Waldron, 17, of Saugus, Mass., is facing a felony charge of driving to endanger. Waldron was driving west on Route 4 and saw a car with a friend in it, Leahy previously said. Waldron tried to pass the other car and lost control on a curve at the bottom of the hill. The car landed on its roof.
One teenager in the back seat was ejected from the vehicle. Gordon is the only one who remains in the hospital. The other two who were injured, including Waldron, were treated and released from a Farmington hospital.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
