Southern Utah girl injured in December e-bike collision returns home

ST. GEORGE — Making it back home is something that Alli Allred wasn't able to do on the night of Dec. 15, but Tuesday, she was finally able to return home to her family.

Alli, now 14, was involved in an e-bike collision near her home in Washington while driving her new Surron electric motorcycle to pick up her cousin. On the way there, she collided with another e-bike, and she was thrown from her motorcycle. Neither rider was wearing a helmet, and Alli was left with a critical brain injury.

The teen's father, Kelton Allred, told KSL that it has been a long journey to get here, adding that there is still a long way to go.

"Her brain thinks she can do a lot more than she can actually do," Kelton Allred said.

For the past two months, Alli has been healing and rehabilitating – much of that time spent at St. George Regional Hospital. In recent weeks, rehabilitation has taught her how to walk again.

While walking out of the hospital with arms linked, Kelton Alllred and Alli were all smiles. When asked how her rehabilitation will go when she gets home, Alli's answer was simple.

"Good because I'm at home!" she said. "I still live at home!"

Kelton explained that due to Alli's brain injury, she has experienced a lot of memory loss, particularly in the short term. He said that she has also regressed some in her cognitive function, adding that she still has a long way to go.

"She's doing good," Kelton Allred said. "She's walking, but she's still super unstable, and she's scared to walk. It's scary coming down the stairs because she's still seeing double vision.

"I think a lot of people are like, 'Alli's doing great! She's walking!' I'm like, 'Well, she's really not great.' Yeah, she's walking, but there's still a lot of things to do," he said. "If she falls one more time, she's not going to recover. Her story does not stop here, and Alli's not 100% better."

Even with the long road ahead, both her parents said how proud they are of Alli.

Her mother, Jordan Allred, said, "She's worked really hard to get where she's at. ... It's been rough. It's been a long three months, but we're just glad she's doing better."

Kelton Allred said while Alli has been working hard to be able to get back home, many family and friends have also been working hard to make sure that the home is safe when she returns.

"We had to take some safety precautions at our house, and we just had a home check with the doctor and physical therapist," Kelton Allred said. "We had to put up a 42-inch baby gate and bright tape at the top of the the stairs so she knows where the stairs start and stop."

He also said that a shower chair and a sensor on her door were added, and they're looking for ways to install a stair lift. These things, along with medical bills in the millions of dollars, have been piling up for the family that relies on self-employed income from Kelton Allred's landscape and lawn care company.

"The next six months to a year, is going to be — we'll see how we make it this year," Kolton Allred said. "Being self-employed and losing out on a lot of work, and not having a lot of motivation to work, has been hard. You go to work, and you feel like you're going to get something done, and then your daughter calls and she wants to see you. And then you have other kids at home who need you. It's a roller coaster."

For now, the Allreds are happy to have Alli come home and said they are looking forward to her making more progress. Alli also wanted to leave others with an important message.

"Wear your helmets," she said. "I didn't."

A GoFundMe* campaign has been set up to help Alli in her recovery.

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