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Trimont girl, 10, battles back from injury

FAIRMONT — We never know when or where an accident will occur, but it’s good to know we can depend on friends and loved ones to be there in the aftermath.

Such is the case for 10-year-old Aaliyah Bolstad of Trimont and her family. Aaliyah was injured in a freak accident while swimming earlier this summer. Her mother, Alysia, shared some details of a benefit to be held Sunday in Sherburn. It will help cover ongoing medical expenses.

“The benefit is from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, and it’s going to be a breakfast feed,” she said. “So they’re going to have pancakes and eggs. Then there will be a silent auction from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. That will be here at the Sherburn High School.

Alysia described the accident and the details behind the life-threatening experience.

“She was swimming at her cousin’s house, and she jumped into the pool and was impaled by a metal rod,” she said. “It was the broom for cleaning the pool, which the girls had in there because they were cleaning while they were playing.

“It went over 2 feet into her, and she pulled it out herself. She climbed out of the pool and walked 30 feet before she collapsed, and then my niece went and got help from a neighbor. She was taken by ambulance to Fairmont and then she was airlifted to Rochester, where she went through eight hours of exploratory surgery.

“After that, we were in ICU for a week, and after being there for four days she went back in for surgery to have her chest tube replaced because it was failing. She stopped breathing during that surgery, and they put her back in ICU for another three days. Then we spent 10 days on the regular childcare floor there, and then we were released to come home.”

Unfortunately, the complications did not end, as Aaliyah would face a few more hurdles.

“We were home for a week before she got severe pneumonia and a severe chest infection,” Alysia said. “That caused her to go back by ambulance to Rochester to stay another week in the hospital.

“Now she’s home, and she has a colostomy bag in place, because most of the damage was to her intestines. Her lung was also damaged, and she has a PICC line in place for antibiotics, which she takes twice daily. She will have a future surgery sometime between October and January where they’ll reverse the colostomy and she’ll be able to get rid of that.”

Alysia said she is amazed by her daughter’s strength, and thankful that circumstances allowed her to survive a horrific accident.

“She’s tough, that’s for sure and we’re lucky she’s still with us,” she said. “The rod was right next to her heart, and any movement of it would have punctured her heart or punctured that main artery. They said if she wouldn’t have pulled it out, she wouldn’t have survived.”

Fortunately, the Bolstads have been able to depend on many others while dealing with their unfortunate situation.

“The support we’ve had has been amazing,” Alysia said. “People mowed our lawn; my family has taken care of our two younger children, 9 and 7, as well as our dogs. We got a lot of cards and activities to keep her distracted in the hospital.

“Even school teachers stopped up to see her. My boss was up there the same day, with food and things for us. We’ve had a ton of support and we come from a great community, that’s for sure.

“We just want to say thank you to everybody for the overwhelming support. It’s helped her to get through a lot of this and to stay brave.”

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