PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — One week after a devastating scooter accident in Port Charlotte, 12-year-old Eden Moody is still recovering in a St. Petersburg hospital.
Eden is suffering from a brain injury, a broken vertebrae, cuts and scrapes after she was struck by a minivan on Easy Street last Thursday, just hours after getting out of school for summer break.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk's report on Eden Moody's recovery:
"She's definitely been a warrior through it all, because her little body has endured so much," Paul Moody, Eden's father said.
Eden is currently receiving treatment at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, where she is facing significant challenges in her recovery.
"Her head smacked the windshield, she did suffer very severe head trauma there is bruising on her brain, there's frontal lobe brain damage," Moody said.
According to her father, Eden is currently unable to speak or move much.
"You can tell she just gets frustrated and she screams and its heartbreaking seeing that type frustration she just doesn't have the control over her body that she's used to having," Moody said.
Despite these traumatic injuries, Eden has shown remarkable progress in her recovery just one week after the incident.
"She actually did take steps on her own both yesterday and today," Moody said. "Literal steps to recovery."
Moody said Eden was wearing her helmet, which he believes likely saved her life.
"We can almost guarantee if it wasn't for us having ingrained that safety in her to always wear your helmet, we'd be in a much different place," said Moody. "We'd be searching out funeral homes not physical therapy."
Florida Highway Patrol reports that the driver of the van, Arlin Magali Monroy Salazar, was arrested for driving without a license. Originally from Guatemala, Salazar is being held on a detainer for Border Patrol and may face deportation.
"She needs to get her end, she needs to pay the price for what she's done," Moody said.
As Eden continues her fight to recover, Moody expressed gratitude for the overwhelming community support through fundraisers, messages, and social media.
"The support my daughter is receiving is the most heartwarming thing I've ever felt," Moody said. "It's coming bit by bit, she's the most strong twelve year old I've personally seen."
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