by nathan oster
What was supposed to be a fun day on the mountain for the top achievers at Greybull Middle School took an unexpected turn Friday when four eighth-grade girls sustained serious but non life-threatening injuries in a sledding mishap.
Ceirra Carlson, McKenna Powers, Nevin Brown and Kara Michelena were on a sled that slammed into an embankment on a popular sledding hill in the Big Horns around 11 a.m.
Carlson, Powers and Michelena were all transported by ambulance to the hospital in Sheridan, while Brown rode the bus with the rest of the GMS students back to Greybull, where her parents picked her up and then took her to Midway Clinic for treatment.
Carlson, who was seated at the front of the sled, sustained the most serious injuries. From Sheridan, she was transported to Swedish Medical Center in Denver, where she remained hospitalized on Tuesday.
Her mother Shelby, when contacted Monday night, said Ceirra sustained serious injuries that required specialized care. The family originally considered sending her to Billings, but ultimately chose the Denver facility because it was “a level one trauma center” and because of its close proximity to a specialist.
Shelby, who is in Denver with her husband Mike, said doctors are telling them that Ceirra will make a full recovery — “but it will just be a long, slow road.”
Shelby said they are hopeful that Ceirra will get to come home by the end of this week.
But school will be difficult at first, she said, because Ceirra can’t sit up for long periods of time. “She can be up for an hour to an hour and a half, then she has to lay back down,” Shelby said.
When asked about how her daughter was dealing with the loss — and the prospect of not being able to finish the girls basketball season — Shelby acknowledged that there was initial disappointment.
“But then the question became, ‘Am I going to be OK?’ And after that, ‘Can I still play college basketball?’” Shelby said, pointing out that her daughter, a standout on the eighth grade teams, dreams of becoming a University of Wyoming Cowgirl. 
“She’s holding up pretty well overall…getting a little better every day.”
When asked about the accident, Shelby said Ceirra told her she and her friends didn’t see the embankment until it was too late “because the snow was coming into their face so hard and they just couldn’t see.”

POWERS

Kara Michelana was recuperating at home on Monday, according to her father Ken.
He said doctors performed X-rays and determined that Kara had bruised, but not broken, her pelvis, and here ribs were very sore.
Nevin Brown sustained a broken ankle, one which the family was initially told would not require surgery, as well as some torn ligaments.  When the swelling goes down, another X-ray will be done to make a determination on surgery.
“She will be on crutches a while,” said Wendy Brown, her mother.

The accident
GMS Principal Kris Cundall said the trip to the mountain was a reward for students who made the school’s 25-Point Club. 
For years, that club took one big trip a year.
In recent years, there have been quarterly outings — things like movies, sledding, swimming and trips to the zoo, she said.
“It’s an incentive program that rewards good attendance, good behavior and good grades,” said Cundall. “If you get to 25 points, you get to go on the trips.”
About 60 students made the trip on Friday, filing onto the buses after first period with the intent of being back home by dismissal time so that students could ride the buses back to their homes.
Cundall said that there was a group of approximately 10 adults, including administrators, teachers and parents, who joined the students on the trip.
“As soon as we knew they were injured, we made the decision not to move the girls,” she recalled, when asked about the mishap. She proceeded to call for ambulances, and immediately, an EMT and fire trucks from Bear Lodge responded. A Dayton ambulance arrived a short time later to transport the three girls to the hospital in Sheridan.
Cundall said the mood of the students was “somber” after the accident, and that they were concerned about their injured classmates and friends. She, too, acknowledged that it was a trying morning, saying, “I never want to live through something like that again.”
Cundall added that some men on snowmobiles deserve a big thank you for stopping to help the injured girls, who were in an area where walking was difficult due to the depth of the snow.
As of Tuesday afternoon, none of the four students was back at GMS.
Michelena said it would be unfortunate if the school were to eliminate the sledding trips for future 25-Point Club outings.
“It was just one of those things,” he said. “It was an accident. When you let kids slide down an icy hill on a piece of plastic, bad things can happen. We all know that.”