Hannah Strom of Marion was one of the passengers in the van transporting members of the Holy Cross women’s rowing team that collided head-on with a pick-up truck in Florida on January 15 while the team of seven and a coach traveled to a winter training in Vero, Florida.
Strom is a 2018 graduate of Tabor Academy and a sophomore at Holy Cross.
One of Strom’s teammates was killed, and Strom and the others sustained serious injuries as a result of the violent crash.
Dr. Jason Moore, a trauma surgeon at the Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute in Fort Pierce Florida where the crash victims were being treated said during a press conference on Thursday, January 16, that the six rowers and their coach are all expected to survive, but for “some of them, we still don’t know what their capabilities will be in the long run.”
Family members arrived in Florida, while back at home concerned community members took to social media to express an outpouring of support for Strom and her family. Support soon after surged in the community and throughout the South Coast as a number of businesses have begun donating a percentage of their sales to help Strom and her family.
Strom’s family owns and operates Kool Kone on Route 6 in Wareham where employees have hung photos of Strom, purple balloons, and put out jars to accept donations to help offset the cost of her care.
Strom’s mother, Gail Matoes-Strom, posted an update to Facebook on Saturday, January 18, saying with cautious optimism that it appeared that Strom’s condition was improving after days hooked up to a respirator and unconscious. She said the results of an early morning CT scan came back as stable and since then Strom has been breathing on her own.
“Vitals are good!” wrote Matoes-Strom. “Medically significant that all this is happening this full day 3!”
At that time Strom still had not opened her eyes, “but I need to keep telling myself in due time.”
Matoes-Strom thanked the community for their thoughts and prayers asked them to continue to pray for Strom’s recovery.
On Monday, January 20, Strom was transported via med flight to a Boston hospital.
Since then, purple and red hearts have started popping up on the front doors of houses and businesses located in the village of Marion as a way to visually show support for Strom during her recovery.
By Jean Perry