Woman injured in St. Thomas back on LI

Ever since her daughter fell into a coma after being hit by a car in the U.S. Virgin Islands last month, Ridge resident Althea Richardson worried.

She worried about how she'd get her daughter Kelly Breem, 34, who was unable to move her right side, back to Long Island where she could get better medical care. Richardson also worried about whether her daughter would ever walk or talk again.

Thursday night, as Breem was wheeled sleeping on a stretcher from an air ambulance Learjet at Long Island MacArthur Airport, Richardson stroked her daughter's hair on the tarmac and told her, "You're home."

Mother and daughter then left the airport with other relatives and headed to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where Breem's long recovery will continue.

"I finally feel like she's safe," Richardson said after Breem left in an ambulance for Stony Brook.

Breem, a Rocky Point resident, frequently traveled to St. Thomas to visit friends and pick up some extra money fixing cars and roofs. On Nov. 14 at about 2 p.m., she was crossing a street when she was hit by a car. Police called to the scene found Breem on her back.

Richardson said her daughter landed on her head and broke some bones in her face. Doctors who examined Breem told Richardson the right side of her daughter's body was unresponsive due to a brain injury. U.S. Virgin Islands Police spokeswoman Melody Rames did not identify Breem but said the victim had not been at a crosswalk. The driver was not held.

Richardson booked a flight to St. Thomas, where she rushed to the hospital and found her daughter in a coma.

She looked "lifeless," Richardson said, but on Thanksgiving she noticed a change. Breem opened her eyes.

"That's when I knew Kelly was inside," Richardson said.

Still, the bubbly, 1996 graduate of Rocky Point High School whose family joked she seemed to always have something to say, was silent. Richardson wanted to bring her home.

"They couldn't ascertain to what extent" Breem had been injured or "how this is going to affect her future," Richardson said, adding, "family is the best medicine."

But she couldn't afford to fly her home.

Richardson contacted Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) on Monday. An aide found Angel MedFlight, an Arizona air ambulance company. The next day the company agreed to fly Breem to Long Island for free.

As Breem's family waited at MacArthur for her to arrive, her mother and aunt were grateful.

"We had one present on Thanksgiving," said Breem's aunt, Cynthia Richardson, 60, of Riverhead. "We're having our Christmas present early."

After she arrived, Breem's brother Vincent Richardson, 23, of Rocky Point, who accompanied her on the flight, said she was awake most of the time, although she didn't speak. When he asked her whether she was glad to be going back to New York, he said she smiled.