Father: UAlbany student hit by dirt bike still in medically-induced coma
UAlbany freshman Alexa Kropf, 18, of Long Island is still in a medically-induced coma, still in critical condition, but stable.
She was injured early Saturday morning on Hudson Avenue in Albany.
She was hit by a speeding illegal dirt bike that had been weaving in and out of groups of people in the road, police said.
Her father, Jim Kropf, told NewsChannel 13 Alexa just had two more successful surgeries on her leg and pelvis. She’s already been through two brain surgeries.
“They’re still monitoring the swelling of the brain. That seems to be the most critical point at this time,” he said. “She did undergo surgery for her broken tibia compound fracture [Monday]. They were able to put a rod in that area of her leg, which was a successful surgery. In addition to that, she had multiple fractures of her pelvis, and they were able to put a pin in that area to stabilize the broken bones that were there. So two successful surgeries in addition to the two brain surgeries she’s already been through. You could say that she’s doing as good as she possibly can right now. Things are not going to change overnight, everything is still hour to hour and will be for quite some time, so this is definitely not a sprint, but a marathon for sure.”
“Myself and her mom, we wish this on no parent, at all,” Kropf said. “It’s grueling. It’s grueling to see your kid just lying there in a bed, just hooked up to so many monitors and all wrapped up, and feeding tubes, and tubes in her nose, and it’s, it’s very tough to look at.”
The problem of illegal dirt bikes and ATVs speeding noisily through city streets has been going on for years.
Police are still looking for the biker who hit Alexa.
Jim called the person who hit his daughter and then took off, a coward.
“As far as law enforcement goes, we know, we know, and we trust that they’re doing everything that they possibly can to continue the investigation and hopefully find this, I’ll say “individual,” I’ll be polite, find this individual who was negligent enough to take this – take this part of my daughter’s life from her right now, and bring him to justice.”
A GoFundMe for the family has raised more than $62,000, and counting. You can get to it here.
“The outpouring of love and support from her friends and family, from everyone, everywhere, even people that we don’t even know, people that have seen the story, her family here in Albany – it’s been beyond overwhelming for us,” said Kropf. “The outpouring of love. It’s – we’re speechless. We’re speechless, and we’re beyond grateful.”
When asked if there is anything he’d like people to know or do, he answered: “They can just continue to pray for her. Pray for her well-being. Pray that she gets a chance to recover 100%.”