A family photo shoot nearly ended in tragedy when a wild horse kicked a three-year-old girl in the head, leaving the child fighting for her life.
Haley and Austin Wilkey were enjoying a weekend getaway with their four children in Mount Charleston, just outside Las Vegas, when two wild horses approached.
The mother was recording the moment on video while her two older daughters were playing near the stallion. When the mother was about to stop recording, disaster struck.
In a split second, the horse lunged at her three-year-old daughter, Olivia, and struck her in the head with a powerful kick, her mother said.
“I thought he was dead because he was so unresponsive,” Haley said. KVVU.
A family photo shoot took a terrifying turn when a wild horse attacked a 3-year-old girl, leaving her fighting for her life.
Haley and Austin Wilkey were enjoying a weekend outing with their four children at Lee Meadows in Mount Charleston. But as Nevada was preparing for a family photo shoot, two wild horses approached their group.
Panic set in as a distraught Haley desperately tried to stop the bleeding with the help of a stranger.
“He had a first aid kit. He gave me some gauze and helped me put pressure on my head until the bleeding slowed down a little bit,” Haley said. “If we let up on the pressure a little bit, the bleeding would start again.”
With no cell phone reception, the father had to drive down the mountain to call for help. “I think he was there for almost 45 minutes with his head shut waiting for the ambulance to come,” Haley said.
Olivia was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital, where she underwent a three-hour emergency surgery to repair her skull. She suffered a severe skull fracture and brain bleeding, as well as a severe brain contusion and concussion.
Doctors monitored her closely for 12 hours before the procedure.
“I’ll be making payments for the rest of my life, I don’t care. Just get her somewhere safe,” said Olivia’s father, Austin. CLASSexpressing the family’s enormous relief that their daughter was alive.
According to a GoFundMe Page created by the Wilkeys, Olivia has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
As for recovery, the family said, “We know he has a long road ahead of him, but we are very optimistic.”
Haley was recording the moment on video, with her two older daughters playing near the majestic horse. Just as she was about to stop recording to address her approaching son, her daughter was hit in the head.
The family is eternally grateful to the strangers who came to their aid, including the good Samaritan who helped stop Olivia’s bleeding.
“I wish I had his phone number. I actually hugged him and said, ‘Thank you so much. You saved my daughter,'” Austin said.
Looking back, Olivia’s mother said she and her family were too close to the horse at the time. Knowing what she knows now, she said they wouldn’t have been there in the first place.