Published: July 18, 2008 11:33 pm         

Fund established to help injured youth

TERRE HAUTE — A special fund has been established to assist with the medical bills of a Terre Haute youth injured in a recent all-terrain vehicle accident.

Bryson Bones, 9, was taken by LifeLine to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis on July 13 after crashing into a steel gate while riding ATVs with another youth and their fathers.

The crash occurred at Front and South Lake roads near Interstate 70, west of the city

According to April Dunbar, fiancee of the boy’s father, one surgery was successfully conducted Friday morning, but at least one and possible more surgeries will be required in the coming weeks.

“He suffered major injuries to his face and eye,” she said, noting that doctors were “optimistic” that as much as 90 percent of his sight can be saved, but plates and screws have had to be used for the moment to reconstruct the eye socket and connected bones.

Bones was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Plastic surgery to repair facial damage will be considered down the road, she said.

Donations to assist with medical bills can be made at any First Financial Bank branch in care of “The Bryson Bones Benefit Fund,” she said.

Bones’ parents, Michael and Tina Martin, are currently off work while traveling back and forth to the hospital.

The Terre Town Elementary School student would have been in the third grade this fall, but he will probably miss at least part of the first semester, Dunbar said.