Former Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyken is in intensive care after suffering serious injuries in an ATV crash.
Our thoughts & prayers are with her & her family. Hit the jump for details…
Via TMZ:
The 41-year-old — who’s married to former Denver Broncos punter Tom Rouen — was riding in Show Low, AZ on Friday when she crashed.
Amy’s sister posted a message on Facebook saying she was airlifted to a hospital in Scottsdale. She is currently being treated in the intensive care unit, according to AZcentral.com.
Van Dyken is a national hero — who won gold medals at the ’96 and 2000 games.
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UPDATE:
Olympic swimming legend Amy Van Dyken severed her spinal cord in her ATV accident this weekend — and doctors performed emergency surgery to repair her spine … this according to her family.
According to a witness, Van Dyken “launched” over a curb Friday afternoon in an ATV area in Arizona known as Torreon … and plummeted 5 to 7 feet … before crashing into the ground.
Paramedics raced to the scene and found Amy conscious but unable to move her toes or her feet. She also could not feel anything touching her legs.
Now, Amy’s family has released a statement saying her husband Tom was by her side when a helicopter arrived to transport her to a hospital in Scottsdale where “an amazing team of doctors performed emergency surgery to repair her spine and stabilize her.”
The family says, “Amy’s spinal cord was completely severed at the T11 vertebrae, but, miraculously, a broken vertebrae stopped within millimeters of rupturing her aorta, and she did not suffer any head trauma.”
“Amy awoke within hours of surgery acting like her typical spunky, boisterous, ebullient self and has spent the last 24 hours entertaining her family and her medical staff in the ICU. She has made at least one male nurse blush. Amy’s attitude has been overwhelmingly positive and optimistic. She has been far more of a comfort to us than we have been to her.”
