Hope Grows for Victim of Truck Crash

Three weeks ago, Lorena Avantes was in a coma that doctors thought might never end, the most seriously injured of 10 victims of a runaway truck at one of Glendale’s most notorious intersections.

Friends and relatives had been keeping a vigil at her hospital bed since the Oct. 25 accident, remembering Avantes as a lively 21-year-old college student with a good job, a loving family and a bright future.

Her mother, Graciela, went to the hospital each night at 5 p.m. and slept in her daughter’s room.

“I started spending the night there . . . because the doctors told me that at any time, she might open her eyes suddenly, or they might close forever,” she said.

Then, as suddenly as the accident that sent her to the hospital occurred, Avantes regained consciousness.

Despite Avantes’ loss of motor skills and much of her memory, doctors at the rehabilitation unit of Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena believe she can make a full recovery, possibly within two years.

For now, family members are trying to help by reminding her of things from her past.

“It’s kind of a back-and-forth process,” said Avante’s twin sister, Liliana. “One day she’ll remember people’s names and recognize their faces, and other days she can’t recognize anyone. There are certain periods of her life that she has no memory of, and we’re just trying to help her get that back.”

At this point, only members of Avante’s immediate family and her boyfriend, Robert Coppel, are allowed to visit her.

“It’s really hard to take sometimes. She’s not the same person she was,” said Coppel, who has been at the hospital daily since the accident. “She was such an alive, independent kind of person, and now she needs help walking, tying her shoes--she even has to learn how to eat all over again.”

The accident at Verdugo Road and Mountain Street sent nine others--including Jose Arturo Velez, the driver of the truck--to hospitals with minor injuries. Six of the injured were passengers aboard a bus.

Velez, 38, of San Fernando, was charged with misdemeanor traffic violations, including exceeding a weight limit for trucks on Mountain by more than 2,300 pounds.

Police and other city officials say the intersection, a key access point to Glendale College and the Glendale Freeway, has long been a trouble spot. The truck weight restriction was imposed in 1993, after several heavy trucks getting off the freeway at Mountain--which has an 11% grade--lost control going down the hill. Last year, 25 accidents were reported at the intersection.

After the collision that left Avantes injured, the city erected an electronic sign that alerted motorists to their speed as they descended the hill, but it was removed after a few weeks.

Velez, who was also charged with speeding and failing to properly maintain his truck’s brakes, is free on bail pending a court appearance. Members of the Avantes family said Velez is unemployed and had no automobile insurance, and they are not pursuing legal action against him.

So far, the bulk of Lorena Avantes’ hospital bills and other medical costs--which have already surpassed $162,000--have been covered by her insurance carrier.

But family members expect to soon receive a bill for the 10% deductible. And they wonder how they will pay for her in-home therapy and care once Avantes is allowed to return home, which could happen by the middle of this year. Graciela Avantes, who raised her three daughters and son Sergio as a single parent, is an assistant to a fashion designer but has cut her hours to spend time with Lorena. Donations from friends and the public have tapered off, and Sergio Avantes, 22, has been trying to pick up the slack by working as much overtime as he can at his job with a chrome-plating company.

“This family has never had a lot of money. We’ve always lived day by day, so this has really set us back,” said Liliana. “But with every little bit of progress we see that Lorena is making, we have hope to keep us going.”