WILTON – A GoFundMe site has been created to help pay some of the medical expenses for a mother and son injured in an ATV crash earlier this month.
Kerri Stone, 26, and her son Ashton Gammon, 6, were seriously injured in the May 20 crash on the Whistle-Stop Trail off of Red Schoolhouse Road in Farmington. In an email, Stone said Thursday that she and her son were riding on an ATV from Wilton to Farmington along the trail with others in separate vehicles as they approached a bridge. While Stone wasn’t certain where the bridge was, wardens investigating the crash pinpointed the incident as occurring at the bridge over Hardy Brook.
“When a bridge came up we started to slow down,” Stone said, estimating that her speed was roughly 5 to 10 mph. “But there was a bump I wasn’t able to see.”
Stone’s ATV went over to the bump and its steering slammed to one side. She said that she grabbed for Ashton, who was sitting in front of her wearing goggles and a helmet, and remembers going over a cliff into Hardy Brook. When she came to, Stone recalls seeing her son and the upside-down ATV with blurred vision. She said that she screamed his name and saw her brother and her boyfriend help Ashton get back up to the trail before passing out again.
Stone was helped back up to the trail while her brother and her boyfriend helped tend to Ashton and keep Stone awake. Her brother’s girlfriend called for help. Wardens, Farmington Fire Rescue, Farmington Police and NorthStar EMS responded to the scene.
Ashton was transported via LifeFlight while Stone was taken in a NorthStar EMS ambulance to the Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. Ashton broke his arm and leg and went into surgery; he was released two days later and is recovering with family. Stone was hospitalized for five days with fractured ribs and a collapsed lung, in addition to a broken leg and knee that Stone said required plates and screws to set.
“I am now home and being taken care of by my family and hoping for a fast recovery,” Stone said. She said that she wanted to thank all of the firefighters, police EMTs, doctors and other medical professionals, as well as her family, for helping Ashton and her through “this tragic moment in our lives.”
A GoFundMe has been created to raise money to help cover some of the medical costs associated with the crash. That site can be accessed here.
