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WEST HAVEN — Tayton Timothy, 6, was in a medically induced coma after a freak accident while roller skating last month.
Tayton suffered a skull fracture, broken vertebrae and an eye injury Dec. 26, after an adult skater who had been skating backward while helping another skater bumped into Tayton and then landed on top of her on the ground. In addition to the critical injuries received in the skating accident, Tayton acquired a strep infection and meningitis during treatment at the hospital.
Things were scary for a while, but she has made an amazing recovery. Tayton's mother said she could be released from Primary Children's Hospital within the month.
An assembly was held at Kanesville Elementary on Thursday to give Tayton's mother a check for more than $4,000 to help with the medical bills.
"Just that much support for little girl they don't know, it's amazing," said Sammi Timothy, Tayton's mother.
Many of the students didn't even know the family. "It doesn't matter. If she's in need, then I want to help her," said 11-year-old Sophia Johnson.
Johnson and her little sister Sabrina heard about Tayton's injuries from news stories and wanted to help. They came up with Dollars for Dolphins, where you got a paper dolphin for every dollar.
"We did help her because she was in need, so we did as much as we could to help her with her medical bills and all that stuff," said eight-year-old Sabrina Johnson.
"I'm really surprised, I mean, I'm really proud of everybody. They put in a lot of effort for this," Sophia Johnson said.
The students' principal was very proud of everyone involved. "We can teach reading and math and all that kind of stuff, but citizenship is what really makes the difference," said Scott Zellmer, principal of Kanesville Elementary.
"It just shows you little kids see what's going on and shows how much love and support they have for people," Sammi Timothy said.
