Teen's life ricochets from crash
By ANDREW SKERRITT, Times Columnist
Published September 16, 2007
Brittany always reminded everyone else to buckle up.
"She wore her seat belt 99.9 percent of times," said her father, Pasco sheriff's Deputy David Riffe.
He has been on road patrol for the past three years and has seen his share of mangled bodies left behind when drivers and passengers didn't wear their seat belts.
But then, on the morning of Aug. 14, Riffe's ex-wife, Brittany's mom, called. Their 17-year-old daughter had been seriously hurt in a traffic wreck in Dorchester County, in the South Carolina low country.
Brittany, who attended River Ridge Middle School before her parents divorced and she moved north to the Palmetto State, was a backseat passenger in a friend's car when the vehicle flipped and rolled over. She wasn't wearing a seat belt.
The four students were on their way to train to become senior mentors at Stratford High School. See, Brittany always had an abundance of school spirit. Last year she captained the Stratford Knights marching band color guard. She participated in Leadership America. She wanted to be a broadcast journalist. Her senior year, with its promise and perils, beckoned.
Then she was trapped in awreck and couldn't move her legs.
Deputy Riffe pronounced "rife" raced north to Charleston where surgeons at the Medical University of South Carolina inserted two rods and 10 screws into Brittany's back.
"It was so reassuring, the first thing out of her mouth when she came out of surgery was, 'Is my dad here?' " said Riffe, who last week was visiting his daughter in Atlanta, where she's undergoing rehab at the Shepherd Center. Even though she's paralyzed below her chest, Brittany won't let that change her plans for senior year.
"It's not that she can't walk again, but, 'I'm still going to the prom; I'm still going be homecoming queen,' " said her dad.
That kind of attitude has bolstered her parents, who must cope with their daughter's paralysis and the complications it brings. Just getting Brittany to rehab was a struggle. The insurance company wanted her parents to drive her, but doctors said it was too dangerous. So they had to pay $4,000 for the flight out of their own pockets. The insurance will pay only half of the $5,000 it will cost to buy the pink wheelchair Brittany likes.
Sherry Riffe, a respiratory therapist, has been at her daughter's side constantly for the past month; that means she hasn't been back to work. She doesn't even know if she can, since she used to work nights and won't be able to do that with Brittany's disability.
Then there are the renovations they must make when they return home to Goose Creek later this month. Their house needs a wheelchair ramp, wider doors and a handicapped-accessible bathroom. Insurance doesn't cover those kinds of expenses.
I talked to Sherry on the phone and it's easy to tell she's been crying a lot over the past few weeks.
But it's also clear that her daughter's fighting attitude has buoyed her.
"She inspires me," she said. "She's my hero."
Andrew Skerritt can be reached at (813) 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.comFast facts
Brittany Riffe Fund
c/o Sherry Riffe, 116 Candleberry Circle, Goose Creek, S.C. 29445. To see updates on her condition visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/brittanyriffe.