A family photo shoot nearly ended in tragedy when a wild horse kicked a three-year-old girl in the head, leaving the girl fighting for her life.
Haley and Austin Wilkey were enjoying a weekend getaway with their four children on Mount Charleston outside Las Vegas when two wild horses approached them.
The mother captured the moment on video while her two eldest daughters played with the stallion. As the mother was about to stop recording, disaster struck.
In a split second, the horse lunged at her three-year-old daughter Olivia and kicked her hard in the head, her mother said.
“I thought she was dead because she wasn’t responding,” Haley said KVVU.
A family photo shoot took a terrifying turn when a wild horse attacked a 3-year-old girl, leaving her fighting for her life.
Haley and Austin Wilkey were enjoying a weekend getaway with their four children at Lee Meadows near Mount Charleston. But as the Nevada prepared for a family photo shoot, two wild horses approached their group.
Panic ensued as a distraught Haley desperately tried to stop the bleeding with the help of a stranger.
“He had a first aid kit. He gave me gauze and helped me apply pressure to her head until the bleeding stopped a little bit,” Haley said. “If we relieved the pressure a little bit, it would just start flowing again.”
With no cell phone service, the father had to drive down the mountain to call for help. “I think it took about 45 minutes for the ambulance to come,” Haley explained.
Olivia was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital, where she underwent three hours of emergency surgery to repair her skull. She suffered a severe skull fracture and bleeding in her brain, as well as a contusion on her brain and a severe concussion.
Doctors monitored her closely for 12 hours before the procedure.
“I’ll pay for the rest of my life, I don’t care. Just get her to safety,” Olivia’s father, Austin, told CLASSexpressing the family’s immense relief that their daughter was still alive.
According to a GoFundMe Thanks to the help of the Wilkeys page, Olivia has been released from the hospital and is now recovering at home.
Regarding her recovery, the family said: “We know she has a long road ahead of her, but we are very optimistic.”
Haley captured the moment on video, her two older daughters playing with the majestic horse. Just as she was about to stop recording to address her approaching son, her daughter was struck on the head.
The family is eternally grateful to the strangers who came to their aid, including the Good Samaritan who helped stop Olivia’s bleeding.
“I wish I had his phone number. I even hugged him. I thanked him so much. You saved my daughter,” Austin said.
In retrospect, Olivia’s mother said that she and her family were too close to the horse at the time. Knowing what she knows now, she said they wouldn’t have been there anyway.