PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Mary Kate McGrath has been in hospital since the night of January 1.
She was the victim of a hit-and-run in West Philadelphia and the driver has still not been arrested.
Mary Kate, 28, is an assistant special education teacher who is working towards her certification, her parents Jim and Lorraine McGrath told Action News.
Mary Kate works part-time on weekends. Her parents think she was coming home from work when she was beaten.
“One of the staff (at the hospital), she said, in all her years of trauma, she had never seen someone so badly injured and yet alive,” said Jim McGrath.
Jim and Lorraine come to the hospital every day, unsure of their daughter’s future.
“We try to focus on the job at hand, which is taking care of her. We’re here every day,” Jim explained.
Philadelphia police say Mary Kate McGrath was struck near North 40th Street and Lancaster Avenue, not far from her home, as the driver turned.
Police said the striking vehicle was small and blue with an unknown license plate number.
Moments later, Jim received a call from his daughter’s cell phone. A man’s voice was on the other end of the line.
“A stranger came up and told us she had been hit by a car and was in very bad shape,” Jim recalled.
“He seemed very shaken himself at the time,” Jim said, adding how grateful he was to the stranger for calling.
Jim and Lorraine McGrath spoke to Action News after a getaway driver seriously injured their daughter on New Years Day.
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Mary Kate was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and has remained there ever since.
His injuries are extensive and severe, including lacerations to several internal organs and a fractured pelvis.
Her father said that each of her ribs had been broken at least once and that she had suffered multiple arm fractures.
Jim said Mary Kate suffered two strokes as a result of her injuries.
“Both of his shoulders, especially his right shoulder, were torn from the sockets,” Jim said.
Mary Kate survived. But just this week, the Philadelphia police accident investigation division said the number of hit-and-run deaths hit a record high last year.
There have been several hit-and-run cases this week, including two on Sunday when a 31-year-old cyclist was fatally hit by a white pickup truck and a pedestrian was killed by a driver in South Philadelphia.
As for Mary Kate, her parents return to the hospital every day calling on the driver to come forward.
“Bring you to court or else I hope he finds you,” Jim said.
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