Family of stage collapse victim donating organs
INDIANAPOLIS — The family of a 24-year-old cheerleading coach from Ohio who suffered serious head injuries when a stage at the Indiana State Fair collapsed in high winds earlier this month said she is "no longer with us" and will undergo organ donation surgery Monday.
Meagan Toothman's family said in a web journal that the surgery "will provide gifts of sight, health, and life to dozens who are in need." Doctors put Toothman into a coma August 15 to try to ease the bruising and swelling on her brain.
"Late last night it became apparent that our Meagan was no longer with us," the family wrote. "The decision was made to allow to her to be at peace."
Marion County coroner's office spokeswoman Marchele Hall said Toothman, the head cheerleading coach at Turpin High School in Cincinnati, is on life support at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Authorities earlier announced she had died late Sunday.
"The outpouring of love and hope ... was an inspiration to all of us to keep her fighting," her family said. "We hope that she will continue to touch more lives in the same way through her passing."
Strong winds toppled a stage onto a crowd of fans Aug. 13 as they waited for country band Sugarland to perform. Three fans and a security guard died at the scene, while a fourth fan and a stagehand later died of their injuries. Toothman will be the seventh fatality in the accident. Some four dozen people were hurt, many seriously.
It was not known Monday how many of those injured in the stage collapse remained hospitalized. State police stopped providing updates on the injured last week and hospitals have not provided reports on the condition of those hurt.