The editor of a Dallas-area online fashion magazine has been severely hurt after walking into the propeller of a small airplane following a flight to view Christmas lights.
A spokeswoman at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas says 23-year-old Lauren Scruggs of Plano was in serious condition Monday.
"We don't know if she realizes all that happened, she's just discovering now that she's hurt and she's injured," said Lauren's father Jeff Scruggs.
"We don't know if she remembers the accident," said her mother Cheryl Scruggs.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the accident happened Saturday night at Aero Country Airport, a private airport in the McKinney, about 30 miles northeast of Dallas.
A family spokeswoman said Scruggs had just gotten off the private plane and went to thank the pilot, not realizing the propeller was still powering down. She tried to shield her face and lost her left hand in the accident. She also suffered head, brain and shoulder injuries.
"There was a tremendous impact on her left eye, and they were going to take the eye, but for right now they have kept the eye in because they saw a little bit of something that made them think that perhaps she would not lose her left eye," said family spokeswoman Janee Harrell.
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Harrell said the pilot wasn't hurt.
Scruggs is the editor of LoLo Magazine, named for her nickname "Lo." She graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2009 with a communications degree and had done some modeling and was featured on NBC's Today Show.
"We do not know how long the road ahead of us is, we do know that there have been some miracles happening along the way, that lead us to believe that she's going to have a pretty good recovery," said Harrell.
Monday afternoon Scruggs' father said she is making progress.
"I asked her if she could hear me to squeeze my hand and she did," said Jeff Scruggs. "She's even responding more today, she's moving around in the bed which is really good, she's uncomfortable when she's moving, which is a good thing."
Her parents are optimistic their daughter will recover.
"It's going to be a long recovery," said Cheryl Scruggs. "It's a marathon, not a sprint."
