Recovery from crash called ‘miracle’
Laura Timmons always believed that her teenage daughter would recover from the traumatic brain injury she suffered in the car accident on Route 9 that killed another Haldane High School student in December 2023.
During Theresa Timmons’ 15-month rehabilitation at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, Laura Timmons chronicled each “big thing” in her daughter’s recovery: the first time she swallowed drinks and food; the first time she responded to questions with gestures; and progressing to writing and talking.
“I knew in my heart we would get there, and I never felt any negative,” said Laura Timmons, whose family owns Homestyle Bakery in Nelsonville and Peekskill.
Her faith received another reward on Thursday (May 29) when Theresa, wearing a shirt filled with signatures from well-wishers and supported on one side by a cane and the other by Laura’s boyfriend, Mike Raguso, walked across Blythdale’s lobby on her way home for the first time since the accident.
A gauntlet of family, friends and Blythedale staff and patients clapped and cheered as Theresa headed through the front door. Outside, Theresa began crying as staff assembled around her to take pictures and say goodbye. First responders from the Continental Village Fire Department, Cortlandt-Peekskill Paramedics and the state police assembled to escort the ambulance carrying her home to Garrison.
“Awesome,” said Theresa, now 17, when asked about Thursday’s sendoff and returning home. “I felt like someone famous.”
Katherine Ingrasci and Mary Kate Filos used the word “miracle.”
Ingrasci, a speech-language pathologist at Blythedale, said that Theresa could not eat or talk, and breathed using a tracheostomy tube inserted in her neck when she arrived at Blythedale. Theresa had “a lot of things to overcome” during the hospitalization and made tremendous progress from initially communicating solely through gestures, said Ingrasci.
One day, “I walked in and she looked up at me and said a full, beautiful sentence,” said Ingrasci.
That progress owed much to Theresa, who Filos described as a “fighter” and hard worker. Filos also credited the family and friends who supported Theresa’s recovery by donating money, visiting and sending cards and gifts.
“They had somebody at the bedside around the clock; Theresa was never alone,” said Filos. “So we bonded not just with mom, not just with dad, but with so many extended family members and friends.”
Also attending the sendoff were some of the Continental Village firefighters and paramedics who responded to the tragedy: a Dec. 15, 2023, car crash on Route 9 that claimed the life of Vlad Saban, a 17-year-old Haldane High School senior, and left Theresa, then 16 and a junior at the school, in critical condition.
Chief Joseph Maffettone said in September 2024 that firefighters responding to the accident found “complete wreckage.” Attacking the doors and bottom of the wreck with cutting tools, they found Vlad already deceased and Theresa in the rear — unconscious and laying on her left side, protected in a “cocoon,” according to Maffettone.
“There was a complete tunnel around her,” said Maffettone, whose family has been buying baked goods from Homestyle for years and knew the Timmons family. “How she was positioned, it was amazing.”
Jennifer Hunt, a paramedic with Cortlandt-Peekskill Paramedics, described Theresa’s physical condition as “multi-system” trauma.
“She had anything and everything that could possibly be wrong with a patient going on,” said Hunt last September. “We had a lot of decisions to make in a very short timeframe.”
Hunt said that she and a colleague, Richard Blackley, sedated Theresa and inserted an endotracheal tube, which is used when patients cannot breathe unaided. With her breathing stabilized, they decided to drive Theresa to Westchester Medical Center rather than wait for a helicopter that had been standing by.
By February 2024, Theresa was responding to commands. The following month, a contingent of family, first responders and friends lined a hallway at the Westchester Medical Center. A stretch of red carpet covered the floor as a paramedic wheeled her bed across a red carpet on the way to Blythedale.
While the inpatient stay is over, the recovery continues. On Monday, Theresa begins outpatient rehabilitation at Blythedale and continues her education as a student in the Mount Pleasant Blythedale Union Free School District. Blythedale is the only hospital in the state with its own school district.
Video by Leonard Sparks
At home, the family installed an elevator, combined two rooms to create a bigger bedroom for Theresa and turned a laundry room into a bathroom, said Laura Simmons. To help with Theresa’s ongoing care, a fundraiser with food, music and a raffle is planned from noon to 4 p.m. on June 8 at the Redline Roadhouse, 5739 Albany Post Road in Cortlandt Manor.
Theresa, who loved working at Homestyle’s bakery and ice cream shop, wants to attend college and obtain a job.
“She’s 100 percent determined to get better,” said Laura Timmons.
The Sevilla family has been rooting for Theresa since Day 1. I drive by the site of the tragedy nearly every day — a somber reminder of how fragile and miraculous life is. Theresa, you have an angel watching over you and clearly a greater purpose ahead. Lavender (Near), William, Enrique and I are so proud of your strength. Your extended family is holding you close in our hearts.
This is such a heartwarming (and heartbreaking) story. She has endured so much, and her recovery is nothing short of miraculous. Many, many thanks to the medical staff who made her survival possible, and a great deal of credit goes to her wonderful, loving family. As we all know, it’s hard to achieve anything without the love and support of family and community. We all wish her the very best.