Bernadine Bloom hurried into the hospital room recently as a doctor held gauze over the hole in her daughter’s windpipe and encouraged the girl to say something. And Molly Bloom’s first words after spending weeks in a medication-induced haze were, “Hi, Mom. I love you. … Hi, Dad.”
It’s been almost a month since East High School’s prom, the night Molly was dragged under the massive rear tire of a Hummer stretch limousine, leaving her with gruesome injuries.
When she arrived at Denver Health Medical Center’s emergency room May 13, only a flap of skin connected Molly’s leg to her body. Surgeons also would have to remove half of her pelvis.
Every morning about 6 a.m., Bernadine and Bob Bloom awaken and cry before leaving for the hospital, knowing their daughter may never be able to sit up again.
“We don’t even know if doctors will be able to build Molly back up again so that she could sit in a chair,” Bernadine Bloom said Friday, granting her first interview to The Denver Post from a waiting room at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Hospital. “When she first came into the hospital, her doctors didn’t expect her to live through surgery.
“Molly’s leg wasn’t amputated; it was torn off.”
In all, Molly, 17, has survived 11 surgeries and a series of ups and downs caused by three or four infections that doctors have identified. She’s run a fever almost daily, and her condition remains too fragile for surgeons to close the wound where her leg and pelvis were.
In her first days in intensive care, doctors upgraded Molly’s condition from critical to serious but stable. But on the fifth day, they realized she had suffered internal injuries, including a punctured stomach that leaked bile around her vital organs.
The injury was the cause of some of her infections and has led to other problems with her internal organs, including damage to her pancreas and gall bladder and fluid in her lungs, her family said.
The Bloom family had three reasons for talking publicly: They wanted to detail the ordeal Molly has endured, voice their displeasure with the limousine driver and 5th Avenue N Style Limousine, and thank everyone who has supported them, including the doctors and nurses at Denver Health Medical Center and St. Luke’s.
Molly was moved to St. Luke’s last week to begin the next stage of her recovery, but her condition continues to fluctuate, her family said.
“Her condition has improved, but she’s really not in good shape,” Bernadine Bloom said.
On May 13, Molly wore a brown and gold prom dress and was among a group of about 16 to 20 friends who had a barbecue dinner with a group of their parents.
Molly stood out because, while her friends wore flip-flops and shorts to the barbecue, she wore her prom dress along with an apron her mom advised her to use.
After dinner, the group rode to prom in a limousine they pooled $1,000 to rent. The Blooms encouraged Molly to travel in the limo, thinking it would be safer.
Just after 11 p.m., outside the Sherman Street Event Complex, where the prom was held in the 1700 block of Sherman Street, Molly was climbing into the Hummer when the driver, Stanley D. Sample, 38, drove the vehicle forward and dragged her almost 40 feet before stopping.
Molly was going into shock, the artery in her leg was severed and she might have bled to death had not one of her quick-thinking friends, Jack Pincus, used his tuxedo vest to slow the bleeding.
“He saved her life, and I’ll love him forever for that,” Bernadine Bloom said.
Denver police have not released the report on their investigation, but Sample was arrested a few days later after authorities determined he was a registered sex offender in violation of his probation for being in contact with minors.
The Blooms have retained an attorney and commissioned an inspection of the Hummer. The results of the inspection have not been released but are expected to focus on whether the vehicle was safe and why the light that indicates a door ajar did not function, said the attorney, Stephen Wahlberg.
“The driver of the limousine, just like the driver of a bus or a car, has the responsibility to make sure that all the passengers are in the vehicle before taking off,” Wahlberg said.
Bernadine Bloom was upset by reports that Sample acted erratically the night of the incident and provided little supervision to the kids. She also was upset that the company has not refunded the money to Molly’s friends.
“Everything else aside, he screwed up big time,” Bernadine Bloom said.
An attorney for the company, Miles Dewhirst, declined to discuss details of the tragedy. He said he is looking forward to seeing evidence police collected, which includes surveillance video from a nearby building that possibly caught the entire incident.
“The limousine company certainly wishes speedy recovery for Molly Bloom and wishes her family the best,” he said Friday.
Sample posted $25,000 bond to be released from Arapahoe County Jail on May 19, and he could not be reached for comment.
Molly’s parents have avoided asking her about what she remembers of the incident, and she has yet to discuss it with them.
But on Thursday, after not being able to sleep for three days, Molly opened up to her older sister, Katy Casper.
“She remembers everything that happened to her,” Bernadine Bloom said. “She just told Katy that … every time she tried to go to sleep she would replay it in her head.”
Molly’s fingernails and toenails are still painted gold to match her prom-night gown.
She avoids reading sympathy cards for the time being, probably because she’s in denial of what has befallen her. Her family finds solace in updating a website to inform well-wishers and friends of Molly’s progress.
They’re excited when they see signs of the old Molly.
A few days ago, a friend of Molly’s got her to go along with the rap song “Baby Got Back” and sing corny Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys songs.
Her family also is grateful at the outpouring of support and encouragement from friends as well as strangers who were moved by Molly’s story.
Molly, a standout swimmer, was among East High’s girls 400-freestyle relay team that qualified for state the past three years.
While her youth and athleticism are partly the reasons she was able to survive this ordeal, they also make the alteration to her life more heartbreaking, Bernadine Bloom said.
“Every morning we wake up in tears and sick to our stomachs for what Molly will have to live through for the rest of her life,” she said.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
