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From the Los Angeles Times
![3D"Bill](3D"http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/columnist/2006-12/23456599=)
=20
Notre Dame's fatal bus crash was only the start for Haley Scott=20 DeMaria
Some 16 years after fatal bus crash, the =
former Notre=20
Dame swimmer tells of her harrowing recovery process from a spinal =
injury in her=20
book 'What Though the Odds.'
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- By all accounts, including =
hers, Haley=20
Scott was just an average college swimmer. No top national times, no =
Olympic=20
moments.
She's Haley Scott DeMaria now, suburban housewife and = happily=20 married mother of two. She wrote a book about herself, to be released = June 2, so=20 there has to be something more to the story.
![3D""=20](3D"http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/trb.latimes/sports;rs=3D10009;rs=3D10=)
There is. Much =
more.
A little=20 past midnight in the wee hours of Jan. 24, 1992, Scott, an 18-year-old = freshman,=20 and her Notre Dame swim team were on the Indiana Toll Road in a = chartered bus.=20 They had competed against Northwestern in Chicago, and were four miles = from=20 their South Bend exit. They had just finished watching a Julia Roberts' = movie,=20 "Dying Young."
It had been a warm day in wintry northern Indiana. = Scott=20 DeMaria laughs about that now. The Irish had recruited her from Xavier = College=20 Prep School in Phoenix and brought her in one day in February when the=20 temperature was 60 degrees. That happens about every 75 years.
"I = thought, hey, I can handle this," she recalls.
The warmth that = January=20 day, however, turned cold and snowy that night, and the snow turned = quickly to=20 ice. Scott DeMaria recalls the bus passing a car, then veering back to = the right=20 lane. "I thought we were exiting," she says.
Instead, the bus = skidded on=20 the ice, left the road, slid sideways down an embankment and, when a = wheel hit a=20 concrete culvert, turned over.
Two team members, freshmen Meghan = Beeler=20 and Colleen Hipp, were thrown from the bus and killed when it landed on = top of=20 them. Scott DeMaria was slammed around inside and ended up next to a = window that=20 either popped open or was blown out. She pulled herself out and ended up = on her=20 back in the snow.
"I remember telling everybody two things, over = and=20 over," she says. "I was cold and my back hurt."
She was dressed = in=20 standard Dress Code A for Notre Dame traveling women's teams, cotton = skirt and=20 top. She stayed like that, on her back, in the snow, for an hour. Most = likely,=20 that is why she is walking today. She had no idea she had broken her = spine. The=20 term "paraplegic" hadn't occurred to her, even though it now defined=20 her.
"I noticed when they finally lifted me onto a board for the=20 ambulance, I couldn't move my legs," she says. "But one of the girls who = stayed=20 with me reminded me that I had been on my back in the snow for an hour, = so I was=20 probably just numb. I'm sure that's what I wanted to hear, so I accepted = it."
Less than four hours later, Scott DeMaria was signing a = consent form=20 for doctors to perform back surgery. Her parents were on their way from = Phoenix.=20 But doctors said her best chance for recovery was having surgery = quickly, before=20 swelling on her injured spine, held somewhat in check by her hour in the = snow,=20 could build.
"I said, 'Well, what are we waiting for?' = "
After=20 surgery, she was told that something, some movement or feeling, needed = to happen=20 in the next 48 hours. Nothing happened, except for visits from doctors = and=20 nurses, preparing her for life in a wheelchair.
"I told my mom, = it was=20 going to be all right," says Scott DeMaria. "I told her I still had my = mind. I=20 could teach from a wheelchair."
A week later, as her father sat = bedside,=20 her right big toe moved. As he watched, it did it again. "I squeezed his = hand,"=20 she says, "and pretty soon, the room was full of happy nurses and=20 doctors."
Doctors told her she would be in the hospital for a = year, that=20 her best-case scenario was walking with braces. Three weeks after the = accident,=20 she stood with a walker. Two weeks after that, she walked with a=20 cane.
Scott DeMaria went to Phoenix for spring break. Then, = incredibly,=20 she returned to Notre Dame for the rest of the spring semester. She had = two rods=20 in her back, holding her spine in place, and was in a torso body cast. = She got=20 around with a cane and a golf cart.
"I was the only non-football = player=20 to get one," she says.
The return to South Bend was not her = family's=20 first choice. Scott DeMaria insisted on it.
"My mom went to = Meghan's=20 funeral," she says. "She understood."
The summer of 1992 became = Scott=20 DeMaria's personal hell.
One night, at home in Phoenix, her = mother helped=20 her take off the back portion of her torso cast and discovered a = blood-soaked=20 mess. One of the rods in her back had broken loose and punctured her=20 skin.
She was rushed to San Diego and had three more surgical = procedures.=20 The rods had been inserted from behind, and the longer she had them, the = more=20 she bent forward. The San Diego surgeons removed the rods and did their = repairs=20 from the front. To do so, they had to deflate her lungs, move her = stomach and=20 tie off arteries to her heart.
Eventually, they inserted a = four-inch=20 piece of bone, then shaved it off a bit and snapped it into place. She = could sit=20 up straight, but permanent healing would be slow. She stayed in San = Diego the=20 rest of that summer, flat on her back, allowed to sit up only five = minutes a=20 day.
Again, against family sentiment, Scott DeMaria returned to = Notre=20 Dame for her sophomore year. On her first Saturday back, Sept. 12, 1992, = Notre=20 Dame tied Michigan, 17-17. At halftime, in front of 59,075 in Notre Dame = Stadium, she stepped onto the field and received the Maxwell House = Spirit of=20 Notre Dame Award.
The comeback moments kept coming.
On = Oct. 29,=20 1993, Haley Scott swam in a meet for Notre Dame. She won her heat in the = 50 free=20 in 25.04 seconds, her best time ever.
But the fairy tale did not = end with=20 NCAA titles and Olympic victory stands. "I never got back to where I had = been,"=20 she says.
In 2000, she married Jamie DeMaria, who had been a swim = team=20 manager at Notre Dame and had kept in touch after they both graduated in = '95. He=20 is an executive in a pharmaceutical firm and they live in = Annapolis.
The=20 marriage began with the knowledge that she probably couldn't have = children.=20 There was nerve damage and permanent numb spots in her legs and feet. = But Scott=20 DeMaria became pregnant and had a natural childbirth. The = anesthesiologist in=20 the delivery room had taken one look at the scars on her back and = refused to=20 give her an epidural injection.
On that Jan. 23, 2002, within = hours of=20 the 10th anniversary of the accident, James DeMaria was born. Now, there = is also=20 Edward, age 4.
The story remains gut-wrenching, compelling. But = it is=20 also 16 years old.
So why a book now?
"We lived in = Philadelphia a=20 few years ago," says Scott DeMaria, now 34. "A neighbor, Kathy = Reitenour, had=20 cancer. She was 38, had four kids, and it was terminal. I had written = parts of=20 my story and one day, I gave it to her. A few days later, she came over, = gave me=20 a hug and said, 'You understand.' "
Soon, Kathy Reitenour=20 died.
"When she hugged me that day," Scott DeMaria said, "I = realized that=20 my story is a gift, that it needs to be shared."
That's her = agenda. No=20 expectation of the New York Times bestseller list, no movie on the = horizon. She=20 has a powerful story and just wants to tell it.
Oh, yes. The = title of the=20 book, written with Bob Schaller, is "What Though the Odds." That's a = phrase from=20 the Notre Dame fight song.
Cheer, cheer for Haley Scott=20 DeMaria.
Bill Dwyre can be reached atbill.dwyre@latimes.com. To =
read=20
previous columns by Dwyre, go to latimes.com/dwyre . =
She's Haley Scott DeMaria now, suburban housewife and = happily=20 married mother of two. She wrote a book about herself, to be released = June 2, so=20 there has to be something more to the story.
A little=20 past midnight in the wee hours of Jan. 24, 1992, Scott, an 18-year-old = freshman,=20 and her Notre Dame swim team were on the Indiana Toll Road in a = chartered bus.=20 They had competed against Northwestern in Chicago, and were four miles = from=20 their South Bend exit. They had just finished watching a Julia Roberts' = movie,=20 "Dying Young."
It had been a warm day in wintry northern Indiana. = Scott=20 DeMaria laughs about that now. The Irish had recruited her from Xavier = College=20 Prep School in Phoenix and brought her in one day in February when the=20 temperature was 60 degrees. That happens about every 75 years.
"I = thought, hey, I can handle this," she recalls.
The warmth that = January=20 day, however, turned cold and snowy that night, and the snow turned = quickly to=20 ice. Scott DeMaria recalls the bus passing a car, then veering back to = the right=20 lane. "I thought we were exiting," she says.
Instead, the bus = skidded on=20 the ice, left the road, slid sideways down an embankment and, when a = wheel hit a=20 concrete culvert, turned over.
Two team members, freshmen Meghan = Beeler=20 and Colleen Hipp, were thrown from the bus and killed when it landed on = top of=20 them. Scott DeMaria was slammed around inside and ended up next to a = window that=20 either popped open or was blown out. She pulled herself out and ended up = on her=20 back in the snow.
"I remember telling everybody two things, over = and=20 over," she says. "I was cold and my back hurt."
She was dressed = in=20 standard Dress Code A for Notre Dame traveling women's teams, cotton = skirt and=20 top. She stayed like that, on her back, in the snow, for an hour. Most = likely,=20 that is why she is walking today. She had no idea she had broken her = spine. The=20 term "paraplegic" hadn't occurred to her, even though it now defined=20 her.
"I noticed when they finally lifted me onto a board for the=20 ambulance, I couldn't move my legs," she says. "But one of the girls who = stayed=20 with me reminded me that I had been on my back in the snow for an hour, = so I was=20 probably just numb. I'm sure that's what I wanted to hear, so I accepted = it."
Less than four hours later, Scott DeMaria was signing a = consent form=20 for doctors to perform back surgery. Her parents were on their way from = Phoenix.=20 But doctors said her best chance for recovery was having surgery = quickly, before=20 swelling on her injured spine, held somewhat in check by her hour in the = snow,=20 could build.
"I said, 'Well, what are we waiting for?' = "
After=20 surgery, she was told that something, some movement or feeling, needed = to happen=20 in the next 48 hours. Nothing happened, except for visits from doctors = and=20 nurses, preparing her for life in a wheelchair.
"I told my mom, = it was=20 going to be all right," says Scott DeMaria. "I told her I still had my = mind. I=20 could teach from a wheelchair."
A week later, as her father sat = bedside,=20 her right big toe moved. As he watched, it did it again. "I squeezed his = hand,"=20 she says, "and pretty soon, the room was full of happy nurses and=20 doctors."
Doctors told her she would be in the hospital for a = year, that=20 her best-case scenario was walking with braces. Three weeks after the = accident,=20 she stood with a walker. Two weeks after that, she walked with a=20 cane.
Scott DeMaria went to Phoenix for spring break. Then, = incredibly,=20 she returned to Notre Dame for the rest of the spring semester. She had = two rods=20 in her back, holding her spine in place, and was in a torso body cast. = She got=20 around with a cane and a golf cart.
"I was the only non-football = player=20 to get one," she says.
The return to South Bend was not her = family's=20 first choice. Scott DeMaria insisted on it.
"My mom went to = Meghan's=20 funeral," she says. "She understood."
The summer of 1992 became = Scott=20 DeMaria's personal hell.
One night, at home in Phoenix, her = mother helped=20 her take off the back portion of her torso cast and discovered a = blood-soaked=20 mess. One of the rods in her back had broken loose and punctured her=20 skin.
She was rushed to San Diego and had three more surgical = procedures.=20 The rods had been inserted from behind, and the longer she had them, the = more=20 she bent forward. The San Diego surgeons removed the rods and did their = repairs=20 from the front. To do so, they had to deflate her lungs, move her = stomach and=20 tie off arteries to her heart.
Eventually, they inserted a = four-inch=20 piece of bone, then shaved it off a bit and snapped it into place. She = could sit=20 up straight, but permanent healing would be slow. She stayed in San = Diego the=20 rest of that summer, flat on her back, allowed to sit up only five = minutes a=20 day.
Again, against family sentiment, Scott DeMaria returned to = Notre=20 Dame for her sophomore year. On her first Saturday back, Sept. 12, 1992, = Notre=20 Dame tied Michigan, 17-17. At halftime, in front of 59,075 in Notre Dame = Stadium, she stepped onto the field and received the Maxwell House = Spirit of=20 Notre Dame Award.
The comeback moments kept coming.
On = Oct. 29,=20 1993, Haley Scott swam in a meet for Notre Dame. She won her heat in the = 50 free=20 in 25.04 seconds, her best time ever.
But the fairy tale did not = end with=20 NCAA titles and Olympic victory stands. "I never got back to where I had = been,"=20 she says.
In 2000, she married Jamie DeMaria, who had been a swim = team=20 manager at Notre Dame and had kept in touch after they both graduated in = '95. He=20 is an executive in a pharmaceutical firm and they live in = Annapolis.
The=20 marriage began with the knowledge that she probably couldn't have = children.=20 There was nerve damage and permanent numb spots in her legs and feet. = But Scott=20 DeMaria became pregnant and had a natural childbirth. The = anesthesiologist in=20 the delivery room had taken one look at the scars on her back and = refused to=20 give her an epidural injection.
On that Jan. 23, 2002, within = hours of=20 the 10th anniversary of the accident, James DeMaria was born. Now, there = is also=20 Edward, age 4.
The story remains gut-wrenching, compelling. But = it is=20 also 16 years old.
So why a book now?
"We lived in = Philadelphia a=20 few years ago," says Scott DeMaria, now 34. "A neighbor, Kathy = Reitenour, had=20 cancer. She was 38, had four kids, and it was terminal. I had written = parts of=20 my story and one day, I gave it to her. A few days later, she came over, = gave me=20 a hug and said, 'You understand.' "
Soon, Kathy Reitenour=20 died.
"When she hugged me that day," Scott DeMaria said, "I = realized that=20 my story is a gift, that it needs to be shared."
That's her = agenda. No=20 expectation of the New York Times bestseller list, no movie on the = horizon. She=20 has a powerful story and just wants to tell it.
Oh, yes. The = title of the=20 book, written with Bob Schaller, is "What Though the Odds." That's a = phrase from=20 the Notre Dame fight song.
Cheer, cheer for Haley Scott=20 DeMaria.
Bill Dwyre can be reached at
![](3D"http://www.latimes.com/media/alternatethumbnails/photo/2008-05/386=)
Tattoos, frowned upon in the NBA not too long =
ago, are=20
practically considered must-haves in today's league. | Video
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