Nursing student in critical condition

From staff reports, On-Line Forty-Niner

Tuesday, September 29, 1998

Cal State Long Beach nursing student Sara Hougard, 27, remains hospitalized after being struck by a car last Sunday in Costa Mesa.

Hougard is in critical condition at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, said Hougard's friend, Tatiana Ramirez, 27, a sociology junior.

According to a report in the Orange County Register, Costa Mesa police Sgt. Tim Schennum said that when Monica Miyata, 24, attempted to merge her 1988 Mazda into the right lane, she struck a Ford Taurus driven by Lloyd Gorman, 38, which then struck Hougard.

Neither Miyata nor Gorman was injured, but Hougard suffered multiple internal injuries and a severed leg, Schennum said in the report. The case is currently under investigation, he said.

Ramirez detailed Hougard's injuries:

"As her lungs were punctured, she has three types of pneumonia. She has lost her left leg and her back is broken in three places. But the doctors did not think that she was going to make it, and are now amazed how far she has come.

"I ask that you keep her in your prayers as she is fighting to pull through.

"And if there are any who would like to donate blood for Sara, they can do so at Western Medical Center," Ramirez said.