Ashlee Bradbury, a Heritage High School sophomore who was injured in a head-on crash near Boring, Ore., 11 days ago, has died from her injuries.
“We’d thought Ashlee was doing a little better,” Curtis Ellis, a close family friend who lives in Orchards, said Monday. “It felt like she turned the corner.”
Ashlee’s father, Terry Bradbury, 43, an Orchards warehouseman who was driving the family’s pickup when the crash occurred, has undergone a series of surgeries including facial reconstruction. On Monday, surgeons placed three pins to link bones in one shattered hand, Ellis said.
Terry Bradbury remained in serious condition in intensive care Monday night at Portland’s Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Ashlee’s brother, Chaz Bradbury, 14, a freshman at Heritage, suffered two broken legs and a broken arm and was released from Emanuel last week. He’s been using a wheelchair to move around, the family said.
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Sandy, Ore., resident Dawn Nicole Misener, 17, a friend of Ashlee’s who was riding in their pickup, also has been released from Emanuel.
Ashlee, 15, who was hurt worst in the Dec. 18 crash with a wrong-way driver on Highway 26, died at Emanuel on Sunday. She had suffered abdominal injuries, including a lacerated liver, in the crash.
She died about 10:35 a.m. Sunday after her heart stopped while undergoing surgery to have a tracheal tube inserted in preparation for back surgery, family members said.
As of Monday night, Terry Bradbury wasn’t thought to be aware of his daughter’s death.
“His kids are pretty much his world,” Ellis said.
In the crash, about 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 18, the father had been driving west in a Chevrolet S10 pickup.
The family was returning home from Oregon to Orchards.
Police believe 53-year-old Anthony Petereit of Boring may have suffered a medical problem when the 2008 Toyota Prius he was driving east crossed a grassy center median, rolled into the oncoming lanes and collided with the family’s pickup.
Petereit died in the crash.
Petereit had diabetes and that’s considered a possible factor in the crash because there was no other indication of impairment, Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said Monday. Toxicology results that might explain what happened hadn’t yet arrived, Hastings said.
Ashlee swam for Heritage and played on the Evergreen Lacrosse Club. Chaz is a cheerleader at Heritage.
Belinda Bradbury, Ashlee and Chaz’s mother and Terry’s wife, was at home in Orchards when her family’s crash took place. She posted a message announcing her daughter’s death on the online journal CaringBridge.org.
Ashlee’s heart stopped while she was being prepped for surgery Sunday morning, Belinda Bradbury wrote, adding that doctors suspect a blood clot formed in her heart and caused it to go into cardiac arrest.
An autopsy is planned to determine what happened.
“Just as Ashlee would have wanted, she will continue to live on in others through her organ donations and our memories,” Belinda Bradbury posted to the site Sunday afternoon.
Belinda Bradbury and Chaz had spent Christmas at the hospital with Terry Bradbury and Ashlee.
In a post at 12:16 a.m. Sunday morning, Belinda Bradbury had written that Terry Bradbury was “recovering nicely” and that Ashlee seemed to be “improving quite well.”
To help the family, the Terry Bradbury Relief Fund has been established. Contributions can be made at Lacamas Community Credit Union branches.
