LIHU‘E — Anyone who doubts the existence of miracles should take a long look at Ku‘uipo Estrella, 17, and Kailana Estrella, 19, of Kalihiwai. Emergency responders in Hawai‘i and Montana are amazed the sisters survived a horrific car crash that
LIHU‘E — Anyone who doubts the existence of miracles should take a long look at Ku‘uipo Estrella, 17, and Kailana Estrella, 19, of Kalihiwai.
Emergency responders in Hawai‘i and Montana are amazed the sisters survived a horrific car crash that ripped into two pieces the vehicle in which they were passengers.
Kailana Estrella not only walked away from the crash site, but came to the aid of her sister.
Doctors declared it miraculous that Ku‘uipo Estrella did not die during the 12 hours it took from the time of the Nov. 27 crash on an icy road in Montana until she had emergency surgery for her multiple injuries including her back that was broken in two places, a fractured pelvis and severed tail bone.
Her internal organs were pushed up from her stomach to her chest area by the seat belt at impact, according to her other sister, Keani Andrade, 31, of Kapa‘a.
“It’s a miracle they survived,” she said. “It wasn’t her time, I guess. It wasn’t her time to go.”
Andrade’s husband, Makali‘i Andrade, is a fire apparatus operator with the Kaua‘i Fire Department who has responded to a share of horrific crashes, and was amazed when he saw the pictures that his sisters-in-law could have survived such a wreck, Keani Andrade said.
Even the Montana responders were shocked three people were involved and all three survived, including the unidentified adult male driver of the vehicle the Estrellas were in, Andrade said.
Earlier this month, Estrella surprised doctors again when she moved her toes for the first time since the crash, Andrade said. For most of the roughly 50-plus days since the crash Estrella was in intensive care fighting for her life.
Last week she was transferred from Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle (where she spent most of her time in the intensive care unit) to Seattle Children’s Hospital, another sign of hope, Andrade said.
The sisters are daughters of Fredlyn and David Estrella of Kalihiwai. Ku‘uipo Estrella is the ninth of 10 children (six girls and four boys).
Most of the family still live on Kaua‘i, and they have been taking turns bedside with Ku‘uipo Estrella.
“Between the 10 of us, someone is always trying to be there,” said Andrade. The parents are on the Mainland too.
Ku‘uipo Estrella, who doesn’t have medical insurance, started physical therapy last week. Doctors still aren’t sure yet if there will be long-term mobility issues for her, Andrade said.
There has been some swelling in her spine, and she now has a 10-inch titanium rod in her back and a six-inch rod in her pelvis and hip.
Pain medication is given on a four-hour cycle.
“It’s horrifying to see my sister in such pain,” Andrade said.
Still, she is hopeful.
“It’s amazing the body’s power to heal. It brings tears to our eyes” to see the progress, Andrade said. “She’s doing a lot better.”
Estrella attended Kaua‘i Christian Academy in Kilauea, and received her GED through home-schooling, Andrade said.
The three in the vehicle in Montana were on their way to the slopes to go snowboarding when they hit a patch of nearly invisible ice on a curve in the road — called “black ice” because of the way it blends into the pavement.
The driver lost control of the vehicle, crossed the road into oncoming traffic, and was struck by a pickup truck. The impact sliced the four-door sedan in two, with Ku‘uipo Estrella alone in the back seat and Kailana Estrella and the driver in front.
After the collision, Kailana Estrella was shocked to see Ku‘uipo Estrella still strapped into her seat over 100 feet away in the other half of the vehicle.
According to Kailana Estrella and the Web site, www.oursweetheart.com (“Ku‘uipo” means “sweetheart” in Hawaiian), Ku‘uipo Estrella was screaming, “help me, get me out, cut the seat belt.”
In rural Montana the ambulance response seemed to take hours, Kailana Estrella said.
The first hospital was just 10 minutes away from the crash site, but the extent of Ku‘uipo Estrella’s injuries was too severe for that small hospital to handle, said Andrade.
So she was stabilized and sent by ground ambulance to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, about an hour away. An emergency flight took her to Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle. She is now at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
To defray the mounting costs of hospitalization and treatment, and loss of income of the parents and siblings who stay in Seattle, the Friends of Ku‘uipo Estrella fund has been set up, with donations accepted at any First Hawaiian Bank, or to the Princeville branch of FHB, P.O. Box 223160, Princeville, HI 96722, or to the family home address of P.O. Box 266, Kilauea, HI 96754.
