BERKELEY (KRON) — Just five months after a car hit a 9-year-old girl in a Berkeley crosswalk and broke both her legs, she is back on her feet.
KRON4 brought you the emotional story of Lillia Bartlow earlier this year, and on Monday, we returned to visit her family.
They have some dark times behind them, but also some good things ahead.
Bartlow is relearning to walk in physical therapy.
Last time KRON visited her in March, she was in a wheelchair.
Doctors thought she would need the wheelchair for an entire year.
“You’re very limited in doing things,” Bartlow said.
Now, she is out of the wheelchair and does not always need that walker, either.
“She would try to navigate, walking on her own by holding onto the walls or short distances between pieces of furniture,” Lillia’s father Darryl Bartlow said.
On Monday, she showed KRON’s Spencer Blake her new school clothes and came traipsing down the hallway without a noticeable limp.
“It’s been great support that we’ve gotten from the Berkeley community,” Darryl said.
But the memories of the night a taxi hit Lillia outside John Muir Elementary school certainly haven’t faded.
“I’m still dealing with the trauma. It’s been hard. But I’m thankful that she’s walking,” Lillia’s mother Khadija Bartlow said. “She’s much better than in the wheelchair, but she’s still limited in many things she cannot do.”
“I can’t jump and I can’t do gymnastics,” Lillia said.
After Darryl made compelling public comments at a city council meeting, a council member emailed the family to tell them $335,000 have been approved for safety improvements.