Frontier student hurt in Scotland
Community rallies around family; mom rushing to visit

By Kate York, kyork@mariettatimes.com
POSTED: July 9, 2008
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Steele

A Frontier High School senior and varsity cheerleader is in a Scottish hospital after a fall Monday that broke her neck, with area residents scrambling to raise money to send her family to her side.

Mariah Steele, 17, of New Matamoras, was serving as a People to People student ambassador in New Lanark, Scotland, when she fell while on a hiking trip, crushing her pelvis, fracturing her hip and right arm and breaking her fingers and her neck in two places.

"She and three other kids were hiking near a ravine and she fell about 24 feet," said Steele's father, Rick. "She has a broken T2, which is a spinal cord injury, but she can move her hands and legs a little so that's a good sign. They're saying she'll have to stay in that hospital at least three weeks before she can move to one here."

Steele said he and his wife, Michelle, haven't yet been able to speak to their daughter, who is mostly sedated, but that she was able to send them a text message.

"She said she was sorry and not to be mad," Rick Steele said. "It brings tears to my eyes. She's such a good kid."

His wife was able to obtain an emergency passport Tuesday and plans to fly from the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport today to Washington, D.C., and on to Scotland, said Steele, while he stays home with their sons, ages 8 and 10. The boys are doing everything they can to help, even getting up early to make him coffee, Steele said.

"They're missing their sister so much... we're all worried and nervous," he said. "I feel like my feet are tied and I just can't get to her. I'd like to swim the ocean to get there right now if I could."

Steele said Mariah's doctors haven't yet said whether she will have permanent injuries from her fall.

"They haven't gone that far yet," he said.

As they wait for news, the community support has been tremendous and a comfort to the family, Steele said.

Local churches and organizations have offered donations and time while employees in the Frontier Local schools district office spent much of the day Tuesday making and receiving calls in an effort to raise money for the family. Funds are needed to cover the cost of Michelle Steele's trip and the ongoing costs for Mariah's care.

"We're just reaching out to everybody, and the phone has been ringing off the hook," said Alice Hurte, secretary to the Frontier superintendent. "This is heartbreaking. It's a really nice family and Mariah is a lovely girl."

Donations for the family are being accepted at The Peoples Savings Bank and can be sent to the bank care of the Help Mariah Fund, 710 Second St., New Matamoras, Ohio, 45767. A Web site, www.helpmoriah.com, has also been established as a way to give donations, and there is a fund at Ormet, where Rick Steele works.

Hurte said in addition to parents and community members, several of the high school’s student organizations have given donations for Mariah, who is well-known at the school and in the community.

“Mariah is just an angel - a tall, blonde, smiling beauty who is always alight,” said Mike Webber, the Steele family’s pastor and longtime friend. “She’s an athlete, very bright and has friends everywhere she goes. She’s that kind of girl.”

The teen had been extremely excited about the People to People trip, said her father, and had already spent two weeks visiting England, Ireland and Wales before traveling to Scotland.

“We were all so excited about this, especially Mariah,” said Rick Steele. “The first week she took like 600 pictures. You just never know what’s going to happen.”