The model and fashion blogger whose face was badly mutilated on one side by a plane's propeller smiled on Saturday for the first time since the accident.
Lauren Scruggs, 23, of Plano, Texas, smiled and raised her eyebrows in one of the biggest accomplishments since she accidentally walked into the propeller a week earlier.
Just before midnight Lauren's family posted an update on her CaringBridge.org web page, radaronline.com reports.
It read: 'Lauren had a great day today!
'She was awake and alert for most of the day! She was able to drink some juice and eat a tiny bit, keep praying for this!
'She walked up and down the hall 3 times today with the help of a physical therapist, the doctors are all very pleased with her progress.'
The family added that they requested prayer for Lauren's facial nerve earlier in the week and asked people to continue praying for her recovery.
They said: 'Lauren is able to smile and lift both eyebrows on her own, such a miracle!
'Lauren's sweet spirit continues to shine through every day, reminding us of the miracle that she is!'
The model suffered some brain damage in the accident, lost her left hand and her shoulder was badly injured.
The road to recovery wil be a long and difficult one but Lauren's parents are encouraged by what they have seen so far.
Her mother Cheryl Scruggs said: 'She will fight through this.'
On Thursday her parents reported that Lauren had seen her reflection and did not flinch.
‘She’s got her spunk back, her personality,’ Lauren’s father Jeff Scruggs told The Today Show.
He said that she took a mirror and held it up to her face, shrugging it off, saying: ‘It’s not that bad’.
‘She’s excelling in the physical and occupational therapies and they're not as concerned about. It’s more of a concern about the cognitive and neurological therapies that she’s going to need after this,’ he continued.
A post on the website Caring Bridge which connects patients to loved ones, Lauren’s page reveals she had managed 30 steps five days after the accident which took place last Saturday night at a private airport in Dallas, Texas.
After a brief walk in the hospital, Lauren uttered the word ‘thirty’ to the astonishment of her family.
‘We're thinking what does that mean? And she said "I walked 30 steps",' her mother Cheryl said.
In spite of the recent signs of encouragement, the fashion blogger and model faces a long period of recovery as she has already undergone several emergency surgeries on her face and shoulder.
The online update added: 'The left eye is still non-responsive, the doctors will continue monitoring it for the next few days.
'Please pray [for] Lauren as she begins to learn the extent of her injuries.'
She is believed to have been returning to the two-seater plane to thank the pilot, who was a close friend, when she accidentally walked into the propeller.
Lauren was riding in the private prop plane, owned by the pilot, to look at Christmas lights from the sky. Now, her parents say that she has no recollection of the incident at all.
'I was just able to hold her and… that's the toughest part of it all, just seeing her waiting there and waiting for the help. All I could do was tell her that I love her.'
Family friend Janee Harrell said: 'They landed and Lauren was getting off the plane so they could pick up another passenger. It was dark... we are thinking that Lauren came back to thank the pilot, and didn't see that the propeller was winding down.'
Miss Scruggs, who created her own style website LOLO Magazine, graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2009 and has worked as a stylist on Gossip Girl. She recently interviewed Twilight star Kellan Lutz at New York Fashion Week where she also met fashion muse Chloe Sevigny.
According to RadarOnline, Lynn Lunsford, Mid-States Public Affairs Manager with the Federal Aviation Administration, said that an integral part of the investigation into exactly what happened is why the propeller was still moving when Miss Scruggs got off the plane.
'It appears that the pilot left the engine running at idle while she exited the plane to switch places with another passenger. That's one of the aspects of the investigation,' he told RadarOnline.
The pilot has not yet been identified but he is thought to have been a friend of Lauren's and recently purchased the plane.
Ms Scruggs, from the suburban area of Plano in Dallas, was taken to the Parkland Memorial Hospital where her devout Christian family, including her mother Cheryl, father Jeff and twin sister Brittany, gathered at her bedside.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072975/Lauren-Scruggs-smiles-time-propeller-accident.html#ixzz1gOTLnBiy
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