Story and photo by Brian Soergel

Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, a reward for information leading to the arrest of a hit-and-run driver who seriously injured an Edmonds teen in Bellingham has been raised to $2,500 from the original $1,000.

“The support has been overwhelming,” said David O’Brien, father of 18-year-old Mackenzie O’Brien, a 2012 graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School.

It was on a foggy Jan. 18 at about 11 p.m. that Mackenzie, a freshman at Bellingham’s Western Washington University, crossed a street with a friend and a group of people heading to a party. According to Bellingham police, a car with its lights out, traveling between 25 mph and 35 mph, struck O’Brien and her friend, 19-year-old Justine Phillipson of Tumwater.

“All I remember is a split second before the car hit me,” Mackenzie said on Thursday from her home in Edmonds’ Sherwood neighborhood. The force of the impact almost tore the right arm from her body. “I remember looking at my arm and screaming. It was dangling. People were telling me to sit, but I couldn’t.”

Rescue personnel rushed her to Bellingham’s Peace Health St. Joseph Medical Center. While there, her father drove up from Edmonds. He said doctors determined his daughter needed to be transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle because her right humerus bone had penetrated an artery.

The severe injury cut off blood flow and created nerve damage, and doctors initially considered amputating Mackenzie’s arm, her father said. She also suffered a cut around her right eye, a possible concussion and bruises to her head.

Phillipson was also taken to St Joseph, where she was treated for a concussion and released.

Ironically, Mackenzie’s mother Sandy was an inpatient at Virginia Mason Medical Center at the same time, undergoing gallbladder surgery. Both mother and daughter are now back home, where friends and neighbors frequently stop by to check on Mackenzie and where her aunt, Sue Eymann of Spokane, is staying to help out.

Mackenzie’s father is taking time off from his sales manager job at the Campbell Nelson car dealership in Edmonds.

It might be some time before Mackenzie can return to Western, as she is still in a lot of pain and undergoes physical therapy three times a week. She has little feeling in her hand and wrist. She hopes to be able to return in April, where college officials have said she will have first priority when registering for classes. The college also told her that she would have help taking notes, since she is right-handed.

The Bellingham Police Department is asking the public for help in identifying the hit-and-run driver. Witnesses told officers that they believe there was one occupant in the vehicle, the driver. Officers are still interviewing witnesses for a description of the driver.

David O’Brien said Bellingham police gave him an update on Wednesday. In addition to spending four hours interviewing residents in the neighborhood where the incident took place, they stopped at 41 area body and glass shops to determine if anyone had brought in a vehicle with front-end damage. The vehicle has been described as an older gray “boxy” style car.

Anyone with information can call Bellingham police officer Henry Ortega at 360-778-8628.