ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Whatever Happened To ... A look back at 1995
DATELINE: GLADEHILL
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
note: below
ANTHONY DONNELLY, 5, was nearly killed in an accident a month ago. Now he's ready to go back to school.
Anthony Donnelly is making a lot of people smile these days.
It's because his personality usually bubbles over into a great big grin that makes everyone around him want to laugh.
And it's because the Franklin County community is glad that Anthony's still around to make people happy.
Just over a month ago, the little boy had an accident that left him fighting for his life.
The 5-year-old was riding on a float during Rocky Mount's Nov. 26 Christmas parade when he lost his balance and fell off backward.
His body landed between two axles on the float's trailer. One wheel ran over the Anthony's lower back.
Anthony's mother, Lisa Seay, and stepfather, Barry Seay, watched the horrific episode unfold in front of their eyes.
Lisa Seay was riding on the float with her son. She had looked away from him for just a split second, she said.
Barry Seay, who is attempting to adopt Anthony, was walking behind the float.
"I saw the whole thing. You're thinking to yourself that you should run and try to stop it, but there's nothing you can do," Barry Seay said.
Anthony was thrown several feet in the air and landed face first on the pavement, Seay said. Severely injured, the child still managed to push his upper body up off the ground before slumping back down, Seay said.
"He only lost consciousness for a moment," Seay said. ``I ran over to him and he said, `Daddy, I'm not going to die, am I?' And I said, `No, you're not going to die. Just keep your eyes open' - and he did.''
Not only did Anthony - known as "Ant" by the people he knows best - keep his eyes open, but his heart rate and blood pressure also remained stable.
As a matter of fact, the Seays said, Anthony's vital signs were probably more stable than theirs at the time. From the beginning of the emergency, though, things seemed to be in Anthony's favor.
A rescue squad member was there when it happened and reacted immediately. Within minutes, Anthony was transported to Franklin Memorial Hospital, which is only about a mile from Donald Avenue, where the accident happened.
Just minutes after that, a helicopter was dispatched from Roanoke to pick up Anthony and take him to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
When the Seays found out that they couldn't accompany Anthony on the helicopter, their worries heightened.
In stepped Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Charles Wagner. Wagner told the Seays that he would take them in his patrol car. Once inside the car, Wagner tuned his radio to the scanner frequency being used on the helicopter so the Seays could listen to what was going on with Anthony.
"There's just so many people I want to thank," Barry Seay said. "And Charles is one of them. He told us he'd get us to Roanoke before Anthony got there, and he did."
Anthony was rushed into surgery.
What doctors found wasn't encouraging.
Anthony's small intestine was damaged. His pancreas, liver and spleen were torn. His bladder had been busted. Both of his lungs were bruised, and one of them was punctured. An imprint of a tire track was visible on his back.
But Anthony made it through the surgery OK.
Hours later, however, doctors discovered some internal bleeding, Barry Seay said.
Several more hours of surgery were scheduled.
With nothing to do but wait, the Seays, who also have a 22-month-old daughter, Bianca, decided to leave the hospital for a little while to try to force down a bite to eat.
"I'm never going to forget this," Barry Seay said. "When we got back, Anthony was sitting up in his bed, asking to go home. I looked at the doctors and said, `My God, what did you do to this boy?' It was truly a miracle."
The Seays said the doctors told them Anthony would be in the hospital another two weeks.
He went home seven days later.
Other than some occasional cramps, Anthony hasn't complained about any lingering pain. Doctors said Anthony should make a full recovery.
Anthony said last week that during his stay in the hospital, all he thought about was bowling and eating - two of his favorite things.
Just two weeks after the accident, on Dec. 15, Anthony was back bowling again.
"And I don't mean that we carried the ball up there for him," Lisa Seay said. "He was running up there and hooking it like he always does."
"Yeah," added Anthony, showing off his left-handed form. "But I can use a 12-pound ball, and they made me use a 9."
Anthony will return to school after the holiday break.
His amazing recovery may have something to do with his personality.
He has no problem whatsoever conversing with adults.
When a photographer asked him what he'd like to do while having his picture taken, Anthony replied: "Dance."
So he did.
"These are my modelin' jeans," he said, showing off a pair of Levis.
He's a NASCAR fan, too, and his room is filled with racing mementos. He knows the drivers, and his favorite is still the late Davey Allison.
"He's something else," Barry Seay said of Anthony. "In the hospital, he was telling everybody that he was 8 years old and that he was in the third grade."
A fund has been established to help the Seays pay Anthony's medical bills. For more information, call the Rocky Mount branch of the First National Bank of Ferrum at (540) 483-8633.
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff Anthony Donnelly, 5, hasby CNBrecovered well after surgery. He was run over by a float in a
Christmas parade in Rocky Mount on Nov. 26. color
2. STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff Bianca, Lisa and Barry Seay and
Anthony Donnelly in their home last week. KEYWORDS: YEAR 1995