Relatives thought they were bringing 9-year-old Brody Upton of Moriarty home to die.

The June 29 car crash in Alabama that killed his 11-year-old brother Rippen had so severely damaged Brody's brain there seemed to be little hope of his survival, but what's happened since, family members say, is a miracle, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

"He's a fighter, and it looks to me like he's going to come out of this, and the doctors think so too," Brody's father Wendell Upton told the Journal at University of New Mexico Hospital on Monday.

Brody is likely to have some lifelong disabilities, but doctors now say he can regain a good quality of life, the Journal reported.

Brody began therapy on Monday at UNM Carrie Tingley Hospital, where he faces a year or more of treatment and therapy, the boy's father told the Journal.

The Moriarty boys were critically injured on June 29 when the pickup they were riding in with their mother hydroplaned on a rain-slicked road near Dothan, Ala., and slammed into a church bus, the Journal said.

Wendell Upton was unable to find a flight to Alabama before Rippen died of his injuries the next day at a Dothan-area hospital, according to the Journal.

"I was allowed to to talk to him several times over the phone and say good-bye," Upton told the Journal.

8:40am 7/2/08 -- Moriarty Boy Dies in Alabama Crash: Rippen Upton, 11, killed and 9-year-old brother critically hurt in truck-bus collision Sunday.

An 11-year-old Moriarty boy was killed and his 9-year-old brother was clinging to life following a collision near Dothan, Ala., on Sunday involving a church bus from Kentucky and a pickup truck driven by the boys' mother, KOAT-TV and an Alabama newspaper reported.

Rippen Upton, 11, died early Monday, and his 9-year-old brother Brody Upton remained in critical condition Tuesday at a hospital in Dothan, where the boys' mother, Crystal Finnegan of Columbus, Ga. also was hospitalized for injuries received in the crash, according to Tuesday's Dothan (Ala.) Eagle.

The boys live with their father in Moriarty and had been on a two-week visit with their mother when the accident occurred around 2 p.m. Sunday, the Eagle reported on Monday.

According to police, the pickup truck driven by Finnegan appeared to hydroplane and veered into an oncoming lane, striking one of the church buses in a three-bus convoy with middle school girls from Kentucky, the paper reported.

Dothan Police Sgt. Tim Ward told the Eagle that Finnegan told police that her pickup was on cruise control set for 75 mph prior to the accident, but the posted speed limit was 50 mph.

No formal charges had been filed pending an investigation, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, the boys' father, Wendell Upton, has flown from New Mexico to be with his 9-year-old son, who is fighting for his life, according to Action 7 News and the Alabama paper reported.

A student, an adult counselor and another adult riding in the church bus also were hospitalized in the accident, but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, according to the Eagle. 

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE