19 year old Motocross racer Ashlee Sokalski was severely injured after a terrible accident in day two of racing at the 29th Annual AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships in Hurricane Mills, TN. The Michigan racer, who has been competing successfully in the sport since she was 12 years old, had just celebrated the excitement of qualifying for the national event's prestigious Senior Women's division out of over 20,000 competitors vying for those coveted spots. The annual championship event has been held at country music singer Lorretta Lynn's ranch since 1982.
Ashlee was completing a jump when family suspect her motorcycle's brakes locked up while airborne, causing her to crash when she landed. Upon impact, she was thrown from her motorcycle, which ended up bouncing back and landing on the fallen rider.
"Ashlee's a fighter. This is the race of her life. You can just hear Ashlee saying, 'Just give me two more laps, I can do this. Just give me more time.'" Ashlee's mother Tanya Burgess told hometown Chesterfield media Monday from the hospital.
Both of Ashlee's parents were present with their daughter as she was brought into the series trauma trailer. A trauma nurse and a paramedic respectively, they both aided in their daughter's critical care on-site. However, weather in the area prevented medical crews from being able to airlift Ashlee to the trauma unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in nearby Nashville, TN. She was first taken to a local hospital for care before arrangements were made for her transfer to Vanderbilt, a travel delay of 2 hours.
Doctors are saying that Ashlee's injuries include a torn right lung, six broken ribs, skull and possible neck fractures and a closed-head injury. The full extent of her head injuries have not yet been determined. Two surgeries have been completed to stop internal bleeding. The latest reports coming from doctors are that her kidneys have begun to fail and that dialysis is being considered.
Ashlee remains in the Vanderbilt ICU on breathing /life support devices, unconscious. She has displayed positive movement by moving her head and flexing her limbs, a sign family hopes indicates that she will continue to make a recovery.
Sokalski's 17 year old sister, Amanda, is staying busy between flights to see her sister and organizing support efforts to aid in her care. Also a fellow racer, she's familiar with the dangerous aspect of the sport.
"We just hope that everyone keeps her in their thoughts and prayers, and we're going to continue to do everything we can to help her fight this." Amanda said over the phone today.
A
website has been set up by friends of the Sokalski family to organize support efforts for Ashlee and to keep the public updated on her condition. Donations can be made directly through
PayPal.com to
carrie130j@yahoo.com. There will be support stickers, t-shirts, and other merchandise available for purchase to benefit Ashlee's recovery in the coming days.
You're his mom you're supposed to care and don't ever stop caring, but it doesn't mean he'll like it or want to hear about it. Look at me, I hate talking about this stuff, but I do care, just as he probably does to. The main reason I don't like talking about is because I consider it a distraction, you've all heard of the saying "A distracted Soldier is a dead Soldier". I think that sort of applies to MX to. So far I've been unpleasantly surprised with what a lot of people have said to me over my one little broken bone (Clavicle). So when I do start 
again I'll be thinking about what everyone said. And it won't make me a safer rider, it will make me a distracted rider. 
Make sense?
IS NOT what you want to do. The more I stand there starring at the obstacle the worse it gets I noticed. Too munch time to fill my head with doubt and fear rather then not stopping at all and trusting and allowing the positive flow and energy of a smooth ride to more then likely carry me through it (in most cases
RIP. way too young to go doing what she loved doing.
GOD SPEED ASHLEE!