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 Interstate 80. Two teenage brothers are accused of throwing the rock from the Gray Hill Road overpass that struck Budd in the face.

(Submitted photo)

DANVILLE — It was only a small step in the long road to recovery, but the Ohio woman has been out of bed for the first time since she was critically hurt when a rock smashed the windshield of a car on Interstate 80.

Sharon Budd, 52, remains in a medically induced coma, but nurses at the Geisinger Medical Center near Danville helped her into a reclining chair Thursday, her husband Randy said Friday. Doctors say possibly she could be moved out of the intensive care unit late next week, he said.

Randy Budd uses his hands to show the size of the rock he said he removed from his car after it smashed the windshield of his car in July on Interstate 80 and hit his wife, Sharon, in the face.

She responds to commands and seems to recognize family members, he said. The stitches have been removed from her forehead, and the swelling around her left eye has gone down, he said. She has lost sight in her right eye.

She also is off antibiotics prescribed because there was concern she had a touch of pneumonia, Budd said.

He and her parents, Clay and Shirley Betz, also of Uniontown, wear pink T-shirts with the inscription #Budd Strong with a panther emblem below.

The school district in Ohio where Sharon is a seventh grade language arts teacher, whose mascot is a panther, sold the shirts and wristbands to raise money for the family.

The shirts are pink to reflect Sharon is a breast cancer survivor, her mother said.

"Sharon has more friends than I know," her husband said. "Everyone just loves her." Businesses in Uniontown are displaying signs that state, "Pray for Sharon Budd," he said.

"Sharon is a strong person," her mother said. "All her students know that. They respect her for that."

In school she has post-up boards where students are to write positive comments about something, Shirley Betz said.

The kids pulled a reverse and sent her two large post-up boards that are in her hospital room. "It brings a tear to your eye if you read them, Randy Budd said.

Budd and his in-laws have spent every day and evening at Geisinger since a rock thrown off the Gray Hill Road overpass in the New Columbia area just before midnight on July 10 smashed the windshield and struck Sharon Budd in the face.

"It feels like it has been two months ago to me," husband said. "These days seem to fly by."

When the rock hit, he was in the backseat while daughter Kaylee, 19, was driving. Neither was injured.

The three were en route to Somerset, N.J., where Radius Hospitality of Canton, Ohio, of which he is the principal vice president, has facility. They had tickets to see "Mamma Mia" on Broadway.

Budd has sent three of his children home because he said, "I want them to get back in their lives." His business partners have not let him work but he said beginning Monday he plans to start "dabbling."

Kaylee, who is in the process of transferring from the University of Cincinnati to Akron to be closer to her mother when she goes home; James, 24, who drives a water truck in the natural gas and oil fields in Ohio; and Joey, 22, a sophomore at Stark State College of Technology, are visiting their mother this weekend.

Another son, Luke, 28, an Army staff sergeant, is with his unit awaiting deployment to Afghanistan.

Budd said he cannot describe the support the family has received from throughout the country. His wife has received hundreds of cards, he said.

"I can't believe how kind people are," he said. "It's coming from the heart."

Two Danville businessmen have provided him and the family a place to stay free on nights they don't spend in the hospital. "More times than not dinner is waiting for us," he said.

He has gotten notes from others who have been hit by rocks thrown from an overpass including a woman in Alabama who told him about the prosecution of the culprit in her case, he said.

Others have let him know in light of what happened to his wife, they have instructed their children never to throw anything on a highway, he said. "It's building awareness," he said.

Budd chooses not to comment about the four teenagers state police have charged in the case, saying he will let justice takes its course.

He had never heard of Geisinger before his wife was admitted but he and his in-laws have high praise for the doctors and nurses there. He cited Dr. John L. Frodel Jr., director of facial plastic surgery, as an example.

Frodel did facial reconstruction during the 13-hour operation about a week ago during which part of her brain also was removed. He stayed two extra days after the surgery instead of returning home in Atlanta, Ga., Budd said. Frodel works part-time at Geisinger.