Randy and Sharon Budd

Sharon Budd, right, was gravely injured when a rock smashed through the windshield of the car her daughter was driving on I-80. Four teenagers are facing charges.

(Submitted photo)

DANVILLE – Standing is something most people take for granted.

But, when Sharon Budd stood, with some assistance, for about 20 seconds late last week, it brought a tear to the eyes of her husband, Randy.

Sharon Budd suffered severe brain injuries when a rock thrown from an Interstate 80 overpass in Union County on July 10 smashed the windshield of the car in which she was a front-seat passenger.

The 52-year-old Uniontown, Ohio, school teacher was rushed to Geisinger Medical Center near Danville where part of the skull was removed that doctors said saved her life. She later underwent a more than 13-hour operation to remove part of her brain and to begin facial reconstruction.

Her condition was upgraded from critical to serious condition and she was moved from the intensive care unit on July 31. She was transferred Aug. 4 to nearby Geisinger Health South, a rehabilitation facility that is a joint venture between Geisinger and Health South.

"I think she is the right place," Randy Budd said Sunday. "She is slowly coming along." Therapists are working with her, he said.

They dress her in her clothes, sit her on the side of the bed and put her in a hospital chair, he said. It was emotional seeing her stand even if it was for only 20 seconds, he said.

"She is doing so many things we are excited about," Randy Budd said. "They are little things most people take for granted."

She is breathing on her own although she is getting oxygen through her tracheotomy in which a speaker device has been inserted, he said.

Through the speaker device she has been able to say some numbers and family names, he said. She shakes her head when asked questions, he said. "I feel she knows certain people," he said. When he asks her to give him a kiss, she puckers up, he said.

During the lengthy surgery part of the brain that affects personality was removed and the family has been alerted she could be different when she fully awakes.

Dr. Atom Sarkar, a Geisinger neurosurgeon, said following that operation that the brain is complex and needs time to heal. It is not like a broken leg when a doctor puts two pieces of bone together, he said.

Sharon Budd lost sight in her right eye and her left one remains covered but there has been slight improvement with that one, Randy Budd said.

Sharon Budd is expected to undergo more surgery in early September when prosthesis will be installed to cover the brain where pieces of the skull were removed. There will be more facial reconstruction and she is to receive a prosthesis right eye, her husband said.

Four teenagers have been charged in connection with rocks thrown from the Gray Hill Road overpass hitting the Budd car and a tractor trailer, damage to a cornfield and a broken window in a house. The damage occurred in less than a three-hour period in the New Columbia area.

The arrest affidavits allege they yelled and cheered about hitting a vehicle on I-80, which turned out to be the Budd car.

A rock state police say was slightly larger than a softball hit the car the Budds' daughter Kaylee, 19, was driving on a business-pleasure trip to Somerset, N.J., that included seeing a Broadway play. Randy Budd was in the backseat.

Preliminary hearings for brothers Brett, 18, and Dylan Lahr, 17, Keefer Lance McGee, 17, and Tyler G. Porter, 17, all from the New Columbia-Milton area, are scheduled Aug. 19 in the Union County Courthouse in Lewisburg. The Lahrs posted $50,000 bail each while the other two are free on $50,000 unsecured bail.