Girl in motorcycle accident could be in coma for a year

A 16-year-old Lynnwood girl injured in a motorcycle crash earlier this week in Edmonds remains in an induced coma at Harborview Medical Center and likely won't come out of it for at least a year, her family said today.

Melanie Thielman — who would have started 11th grade at Lynnwood High School this fall — suffered severe head trauma when she was thrown from the back of a motorcycle Tuesday, her father said.

According to police, the crash happened about 10 p.m. on the 9000 block of Olympic View Drive.

Melanie was riding on the back of a motorcycle with a 23-year-old man when he crashed into a utility pole, said Sgt. Don Anderson with the Edmonds Police Department. Both were wearing helmets.

She was "thrown straight up in the air, like a missile, and came straight down," said Calvin Thielman, Melanie's father.

Melanie and the man were transported to Harborview. She is in the Intensive Care Unit and was listed in serious condition, a hospital spokeswoman said this morning.

No condition or information was available for the man. Police did not release his name and Thielman said he didn't know who he was.

Police are investigating the incident and say that they are "looking at speed as a potential cause."

Thielman, a single father, said the past few days have been a parent's worst nightmare.

His daughter has been nonresponsive since the accident, and she developed a blood clot in her brain behind her right eye, he said. Doctors decided to put her in a coma "to relax the brain" and stabilize the clot, he said.

So far, it hasn't grown, but her long-term odds for recovery remain unclear, he said.

"Last night they told me there's a strong chance of her being in a coma for 12 to 18 months," Thielman said. "The best scenario is if she wakes up."

Thielman — who owns a Harley Davidson and has ridden bikes for 30 years — said he always warned his daughter to "not to jump on motorcycles without being with an experienced rider."

Now, as Thielman and his family wait by Melanie's side, he said he's been leaning on the support of friends, teachers and students who come to see her.

"There have been droves and droves of people, about 100 a day," he said. "She's very well-loved."

Saturday, he said, will be especially difficult — it's Melanie's 17th birthday.

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com