By Jim Woods
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ed Matthews | Dispatch
Isatu Kanu, 16, watches television in the Ohio State University Medical Center. Her visitors are family friend Rhonda Harris, 15, left, and Isatu's mother, Mamusu.
Although Isatu Kanu was in a neck brace and experiencing pain in a hospital bed yesterday, she and her family know the situation could have been much worse.
Isatu, 16, was walking along a railroad track toward Olentangy Orange High School after missing her bus Friday when she was clipped by a northbound Norfolk Southern freight train south of Powell Road in Delaware County.
She has a neck fracture and 38 stitches in her right leg and is still a little woozy from a concussion. But she survived, is to be released soon from the Ohio State University Medical Center and is expected to recover fully.
"She's alive. That's the best I could ask for. God did it good," said her mother, Mamusu Kanu, 32, who was visiting her yesterday with Isatu's two younger sisters in tow.
"For a train to hit her and (her to) end up like this, you can't ask for anything else," Kanu said.
The Kanu family, who moved to this country from Sierra Leone in western Africa 10 years ago, has lived for a few weeks on Lazelle Road. The family also includes her father, Aleu Kanu, and a brother.
After missing her school bus Friday morning, Isatu didn't want to trouble her mother, who she knew was heading to work at Better Home Care on Mount Vernon Avenue in Columbus.
Isatu said she knew from riding the bus that walking along the tracks would be the fastest way to get to the high school, where she is a sophomore.
"It was my first time walking the tracks," she said.
Wearing her headphones, she walked close to the tracks, and a southbound train passed, Isatu said.
Isatu continued walking north. She had only one of her headphones on and could hear the northbound train coming behind her.
"It looked like it was going slower than usual," Isatu said. She figured she would be safe because although she had been close to the tracks the first time, the southbound train had not struck her.
Suddenly, she blacked out. "I don't remember the part of getting hit," she said.
When Isatu awoke, she saw the engineer standing over her holding a cell phone and telling her that she got hit and not to move.
Meanwhile, her mother received a phone call at work from an officer saying her daughter had been in an accident.
The officer wouldn't tell her exactly what happened.
"It was the most scary thing," Kanu said.
She thought her daughter was dead, but the officer assured her Isatu was not.
Kanu saw her daughter in the emergency room. "I was joyful, but I was crying and shaking."
On the one hand, Kanu said, she'd like to visit the crash scene with her daughter.
But on second thought, they both said, it's probably a better idea to stay away from the tracks forever.
As of yesterday, Norfolk Southern police had not charged the girl with trespassing on railroad property.
jwoods@dispatch.com
Isatu, 16, was walking along a railroad track toward Olentangy Orange High School after missing her bus Friday when she was clipped by a northbound Norfolk Southern freight train south of Powell Road in Delaware County.
She has a neck fracture and 38 stitches in her right leg and is still a little woozy from a concussion. But she survived, is to be released soon from the Ohio State University Medical Center and is expected to recover fully.
"She's alive. That's the best I could ask for. God did it good," said her mother, Mamusu Kanu, 32, who was visiting her yesterday with Isatu's two younger sisters in tow.
"For a train to hit her and (her to) end up like this, you can't ask for anything else," Kanu said.
The Kanu family, who moved to this country from Sierra Leone in western Africa 10 years ago, has lived for a few weeks on Lazelle Road. The family also includes her father, Aleu Kanu, and a brother.
After missing her school bus Friday morning, Isatu didn't want to trouble her mother, who she knew was heading to work at Better Home Care on Mount Vernon Avenue in Columbus.
Isatu said she knew from riding the bus that walking along the tracks would be the fastest way to get to the high school, where she is a sophomore.
"It was my first time walking the tracks," she said.
Wearing her headphones, she walked close to the tracks, and a southbound train passed, Isatu said.
Isatu continued walking north. She had only one of her headphones on and could hear the northbound train coming behind her.
"It looked like it was going slower than usual," Isatu said. She figured she would be safe because although she had been close to the tracks the first time, the southbound train had not struck her.
Suddenly, she blacked out. "I don't remember the part of getting hit," she said.
When Isatu awoke, she saw the engineer standing over her holding a cell phone and telling her that she got hit and not to move.
Meanwhile, her mother received a phone call at work from an officer saying her daughter had been in an accident.
The officer wouldn't tell her exactly what happened.
"It was the most scary thing," Kanu said.
She thought her daughter was dead, but the officer assured her Isatu was not.
Kanu saw her daughter in the emergency room. "I was joyful, but I was crying and shaking."
On the one hand, Kanu said, she'd like to visit the crash scene with her daughter.
But on second thought, they both said, it's probably a better idea to stay away from the tracks forever.
As of yesterday, Norfolk Southern police had not charged the girl with trespassing on railroad property.
jwoods@dispatch.com
Story provided by: dispatch.com
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