Car crash victim Pierson has good cheer

Tuesday,
December 12, 2006

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

Kassy Pierson remembers what doctors told
her after a car accident in the summer of 2005.

The words scared the
current Rockford
senior.

"I was in the
emergency room and the doctors told me that I wouldn't be able to cheer
again," Pierson recalled. "That's the part where I freaked
out."

Pierson
was involved in an accident on June 21, 2005, at the intersection of Northland Drive
and Rogue River Road.
She was driving by herself in a small pickup truck when she approached a
blinking red light. She said she thought it was clear and proceeded, but a
vehicle appeared from her blind spot and hit her truck on the passenger side.

The collision flipped
Pierson's truck sideways and it landed on another car that was waiting at the
stoplight.

Pierson was trapped in her
vehicle and it took more than an hour for emergency personnel to free her
from the truck.

"They had to cut me
out, and at the time, I was more stunned than anything," Pierson said.
"Your body goes into shock."

Pierson was transported to
the hospital, where she spent three days.

Mending takes time

While her injuries weren't
life-threatening, Pierson suffered dislocated vertebrae and two fractures in
her left shoulder and one fracture in her right shoulder. She also needed 30
stitches above her right eye and required the use of a halo.

Rockford competitive cheer coach Kathy Jo Resseguie visited Pierson in the hospital shortly after
the accident.

"I was very upset,
and to know the severity of the accident made it worse," Resseguie said. "I didn't think she would be able to
cheer again because of the severity of her injuries, and walking in and
seeing her in a halo was scary enough because I knew how much she loved
cheerleading and how dedicated she was to it.

"It broke my heart
thinking that she wouldn't be able to cheer again, but with a strong will and
determination, she changed that."

Pierson didn't allow the
pain to keep her down and strived to return to the mat. Pierson underwent
four months of physical therapy and came back sooner than expected.

She was cleared in October
2005, to begin competing again, with restrictions.

Pierson said she gained
motivation from a banner that Resseguie and her
teammates made for her.

"It was a really big
banner and it had a picture of me flying, and coach said that would be me in
my senior year," she said. "I looked at that every day and I really
pushed myself to make it not be my senior year. I wanted to be back before
then."

Pierson competed in two
rounds as a junior, and is preparing for her senior year.

"I'm so thankful that
I can be out there now and just to know that I proved so many people
wrong," Pierson said.