Mountain Lion’s Victim Due to Be Transferred From Intensive Care
Doctors are planning to move Laura Michele Small, the El Toro girl severely mauled by a mountain lion, out of the intensive care unit at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo today, nursing supervisor Denise Imbault said.
The girl will probably be moved to a room in the pediatrics ward, her father, Donald Small, said.
Small said his daughter has shown “pretty steady improvement” since she was brought to the Mission Viejo hospital March 22 with multiple puncture wounds and skull fractures, one of which caused brain damage and partial paralysis on her right side.
“She has been moving her right leg quite a bit, and her (right) arm a little bit,” Small said. Doctors are “pretty sure” that Laura will not lose her right eye, which was badly cut in the attack, he said.
“All of the signs are just wonderful,” Small said. Donors have contributed about $1,000 so far to a fund to help pay for Laura’s rehabilitation. The fund is in Laura’s name at Mercury Savings in El Toro.
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