TUSTIN : Christmas in February Is Gift for Injured Girl

Santa pinned a giant “I Love Christmas” button on her blouse. A choir sang Christmas carols, and underneath the Christmas tree were half a dozen gifts for her.

Yes, it’s February, but for Angela Reisinger, last Thursday was Christmas.

“I won’t ever forget,” she said.

Time had stood still for the 13-year-old, who lapsed into a coma in December after she was hit by a car while riding her bike to school. When she regained consciousness about the middle of January, she realized she had missed her favorite time of the year.

No problem. Classmates at C.E. Utt Middle School turned back the clock and threw Reisinger a Christmas party in her room at the Tustin Rehabilitation Hospital.

Seated in a wheelchair, a black patch over her right eye, Reisinger enjoyed the event as she hugged her seventh-grade classmates, accepted the gifts and cheerfully answered questions from a pack of reporters.

Yes, it’s her best Christmas ever. Yes, she feels fine. No, she does not remember much about the accident.

She suffered lacerations to her liver, kidneys and appendix and has a metal plate in her right leg. But her doctor, Wilfredo Escober, said her chance for complete recovery is “excellent.”

“She’s young. She’ll bounce back,” said Escober, adding that Reisinger could be back in class before the end of the school year.

“This is something she’ll remember her whole life,” said Reisinger’s mother, Ophelia, 43. “We’re really happy for her.”

Reisinger’s father, Fred, 44, a computer analyst, said his daughter got her name from the angel the family places atop their Christmas tree every year.