St. Charles Sisters Seriously Injured In Missouri Jet-Ski Crash

Jason Addy
Updated ·3 min read

ST. CHARLES, IL — Two sisters from St. Charles were seriously injured last weekend when they crashed their jet ski into a boat while riding on the Lake of the Ozarks.

Holli Beall, the girls’ mother, told Patch on Friday that Charlotte, 10, remains unconscious in a Kansas City intensive care unit while Bryn, 12, is making her way back to the Chicago area to continue her recovery after being released from the hospital Thursday.

Charlotte is a student at Munhall Elementary School, and Bryn attends Wredling Middle School.

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Beall said Charlotte was driving a jet ski with Bryn and her father riding on the back while they were vacationing July 25 at the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri. The legal age to operate a jet ski in the state is 14 unless a parent or someone who is at least 16 is riding on the vehicle.

“They were out jet-skiing and came across a boat, and from what I understand, they turned the right way, and the boat turned the wrong way,” Beall said.

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The crash occurred near a family’s dock in the lake, and they immediately jumped in to pull the girls out, Beall said.

Both girls were airlifted to local hospitals with severe head injuries and broken bones, Beall said. Charlotte suffered a traumatic brain injury, neck injuries and a broken sinus, while Bryn suffered a broken eye socket, broken collarbone and severe cut over her eye that will require plastic surgery, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to support the girls in their recovery.

As of Friday evening, the GoFundMe campaign has raised just over $6,000 toward its $10,000 goal to support Charlotte and Bryn, and to help their mother stay in Kansas City to be with Charlotte for as long as she is hospitalized there.

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Beall said Friday that Charlotte remains intubated and unconscious. Doctors are keeping her heavily sedated to “give her brain a longer chance to recover,” she said.

Bryn was released from the hospital Thursday, but she does not remember the crash, Beall said, adding she is “speaking fine” but will need rehabilitation. Charlotte’s recovery is set to take much longer, her mother said.

“With Charlotte’s injury, it could be a couple years,” Beall said. “Until she’s awake, we really don't quite know the extent” of her injuries.

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Charlotte will be airlifted to a Chicago-area hospital when she is ready so that she can receive in-patient rehabilitation and other treatment, Beall said.

“It was pretty brutal,” Beall said. “Nobody wants to see their babies like this.”

Despite her daughters’ injuries, Beall said she is staying positive about Charlotte's recovery.

“No matter how she comes out of it, she’s still my child and I love her just the same,” Beall said. “It absolutely doesn’t change that.”

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This article originally appeared on the St. Charles Patch