ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) — An Escondido family is on a Thanksgiving week mission to thank the good Samaritans who saved the life of a 13-year-old girl, after she was struck by a car.
“It’s the worst thing any mother can think of receiving,” said Isabel Torres.
Torres received the news on May 23 that her 13-year-old daughter Lily Irigoyen had been in an accident, after a taking a bus to Westfield North County to shop.
She and a friend were headed into the mall. At one entrance, as Lily stepped into the crosswalk to cross Beethoven Drive, she was struck by a car.
The collision knocked her unconscious, causing a traumatic brain injury. Police later told Torres, two passing drivers — a man and woman — got out of their cars, and rushed to help.
“The man was doing CPR on her while the woman was calling 911, and tried to call us on her phone,” said Torres.
The woman got word to Lily's family and got help there quickly. The man performed CPR until paramedics arrived, before she was airlifted to a hospital.
Lily was in a coma for three weeks, and suffered a host of injuries, including the head trauma, a broken leg, a punctured lung and damaged kidney.
Doctors told her family the CPR had kept the oxygen flowing to her brain, saving her life.
“They saved me! They're the reason I'm here right now,” said Lily.
After a three-month stay in the hospital, Lily is still healing from her injuries.
This Thanksgiving, she and her mom on a mission: to find and thank those good Samaritans.
“I think they're angels. God put them there for a reason … I think it's a great time to find them, and tell them what a great thing they did … What they did was just amazing,” said a tearful Torres.
“I would just hug them. No words to express how thankful I am,” said Lily.
The mystery man is believed to be a dental surgeon.
If you have information on the good Samaritans, email Tips@10news.com.
As for the accident, Escondido police determined the driver who struck Lily was at fault, but she was not criminally charged.
