It’s been nearly a year since a local carnival ride scalped a young Nebraska girl’s head.
Elizabeth Gilreath, 11, was on the King’s Crown, a spinning teacups-type ride at the Omaha, Neb. Cinco de Mayo festival when her long hair became tangled in the ride.
“I can’t believe it’s almost a year now,” Elizabeth, who also goes by Lulu, told NBC news affiliate WOWT.
Since the horrifying day, Lulu has had two head surgeries, three skin grafts, one eye surgery and 28 blood transfusions.
“I told her I feel like my head was smushed, mom. And she told me what happened,” Lulu said.
Lulu recalls the moment she slid down the seat of the ride, only to wake up in the hospital.
“It went on for five to 10 minutes, everybody told me while it ripped and pulled my daughter around,” the girl’s father, Timothy Gilreath, told WOWT reporters back in May.
The initial accident happened around 1:30 p.m. Surveillance video from a nearby business shows the dramatic moments as the crowd, including Elizabeth’s family and friends, became aware of the accident.
Initially, the muscle damage was so severe that Lulu was unable to open her eyelids or speak, communicating via hand squeezes.
The accident caused a major uproar. Lulu’s mother, Virginia Cooksey, posted Facebook updates of her daughter’s ordeal, including one of her little girl’s reaction upon seeing herself in a mirror for the first time since the accident. Despite her still-disfigured face, there was a smile on her face.
Almost a year later, the 12-year-old is back in school and her beautiful red curly hair is growing back on one side.
“I loved my hair. It was extremely rare,” she told WOWT. “And now, I can actually pull my hair up into a ponytail and the thing is, it’s growing.”
Lulu is still seeking hospital treatments. A few weeks ago, her mother said she developed a staph or MRSA infection.
“Now my entire head is red and I have inflammatory here and here,” Lulu said.
She also has another eye surgery coming up. After the accident, doctors didn’t know if she would ever have sight in her left eye again.
“If I keep focusing on something, you’ll see my left eye daze away,” she said.
Though Lulu says she will never go on a carnival ride ever again, the horrific experience has certainly made her stronger than ever.
“My scars don’t define me. Nobody’s scars should define them,” she told WOWT.
According to WOWT, the family has two lawsuits pending: one against the company who made the ride, another against the State of Nebraska for negligence.
— With files from Elton Hobson