Lightning Victims Are Out of Danger, Doctors Say

For now, Jeff Whitfield is only too happy that his daughter, Kaylee, will recover nicely from the bolt of lightning that struck her and seven teammates. But he also wants to know if his athletic daughter can still play ball.

“The first time we go out, I want to know if she can still kick the ball, if she can still hit,” Whitfield said Sunday in the lobby of Childrens Hospital of Orange County, where his 9-year-old daughter and three teammates remained in the critical care unit.

Kaylee Whitfield and Tiffany Thompson, both 9, and Beth Carrillo and Katie Maggard, both 8, were listed in guarded condition. They all suffered second- and third-degree burns on their feet and legs when the bolt of lightning struck a towering oak tree Saturday on the softball field at Edgewood Elementary School in the 1800 block of Lassen Drive in Tustin.

Three other players--Wendy Ann Meyers and Julie Throckmorton, both 10, and Theresa Farnum, 8--were listed in good condition at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Spokesmen at both hospitals said the girls would be observed for another day or two before being released. They emphasized that all the patients are out of danger.

Three of the girls at CHOC on Sunday treaded steadily and slowly on their bandaged feet from the intensive care ward to the visiting area, carefully lowering themselves on the couch. Katie Maggard followed along in a wheelchair.

They received a special visit from their coach, John Bates, who handed them baseball caps and balls autographed by California Angels Wally Joyner and Willie Fraser.

Parents said they could see a remarkable improvement in the girls, three of whom were looking forward Sunday night to their first meal since the accident.

“We couldn’t have food for 24 hours,” Tiffany Thompson said, informing her visitors that she did get to have a few Popsicles on Sunday afternoon. All four girls--clad in yellow hospital gowns and Angels’ caps--had intravenous needles stuck in their arms.

Katie Maggard said she and the girls had discussed changing the team’s name from the Bobby Sox Waves to the Shockwaves.

But Beth Carrillo didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic. “I don’t want to play softball anymore,” she said.

Her father, Paul, said that was the first thing she said to him when she saw him.

The girls said they couldn’t remember anything about the lightning, although they’ve been hearing that they turned blue.

Kaylee Whitfield said the only thing she could remember was waking up after the lightning struck.

“I was laying in the grass and I was in a puddle of water,” she said.

Jeff Whitfield said his daughter has been playing soccer and softball for the last three years and excels at both. After visiting with her Sunday, he said Kaylee had expressed no reservations about returning to the playing field soon.

He also said that his daughter still had small burn marks on her legs and that her arms were still sore. But, he said, “she’s a lot better. Her spirits are much better. But she doesn’t remember anything that happened.”

Whitfield said his wife, Kyra, was at the softball field, where the Waves were getting ready to play a softball game in the Tustin Bobby Sox League, when the sudden lightning appeared.

“She was about 10 feet from the girls when the lightning struck. She said they all fell . . . just like bowling pins,” he said.

Whitfield also said he and other parents were upset with news reports that suggested that perhaps Bates, the team’s coach, had wrongly instructed the girls to hover under the oak tree when it began to rain.

“I am not upset with John Bates. None of the parents are upset with him,” Whitfield said. “He saved my daughter. If he had not been there, he could not have helped my daughter.

“It was just an accident that could have happened to anyone. So let it be.”

Bates--whose own daughter, Carrie, was treated for minor burns at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange and released Saturday--also said he had been initially disturbed about the news reports.

“I feel a lot better now after visiting all the girls in the hospitals,” Bates said Sunday. “All the parents have been supportive of the team and all of us. It was a freak, unfortunate incident. We’re all thanking God it turned out OK.”

Bates, who has coached the team for three years, said that after seeing the girls Sunday morning he felt that “they are all fine emotionally, but some are a little shaken.”

The coach said that Beth Carrillo and Katie Maggard appeared to have been the most seriously injured. They had burns on their faces in addition to burns on their arms and feet.

Bates reiterated that there was no indication of thunder or lightning when it began raining at 11:30 a.m. and he and other officials tried to determine whether to call the game.

“There was only that five or 10 seconds of lightning. It all happened very fast. (News reports) sounded like we were playing baseball in an electrical storm,” Bates said. “And that’s not what happened.”

The coach said he was not with the girls when the lightning struck because he was retrieving the team’s equipment from the dugout.

Bates said the team’s next scheduled game is Wednesday, but he does not think the team will play again until all the girls are pronounced fit.

“I think we’re going to proceed with the hope of getting the team back together within a couple of weeks,” he said.

Bart Beckman, president of the Tustin Bobby Sox League, also said league officials had met Sunday morning “to review what happened and to see what we need to do to get back on the horse.”

He said five psychologists have volunteered to help the girls and their parents for post-traumatic distress.

“There may be a fear by a lot of the kids that ‘Oh, my gosh, every time clouds come over, they’re going to get me,’ ” Beckman said.

Beckman also said the league will conduct emergency drills to prepare for future situations and make sure all coaches and league officials are familiar with cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques.

Beckman and several parents credited Bates and other bystanders with reviving the girls with CPR after they were struck by the bolt of lightning.

Meanwhile, the girls’ families were trying Sunday to recover from the trauma and get back to normal.

Paul Meyers, 12-year-old brother of Wendy Ann Meyers, said Sunday afternoon that he had been able to visit his younger sister at Western Medical Center.

“She’s looking great and she’s feeling good,” Paul said. “But none of us have gotten much sleep.”