Mansfield community rallies behind local woman injured in bike crash

MANSFIELD, Ohio — The Mansfield community is showing the power of unity after Nataleigh Everett was seriously injured in a devastating bicycle accident.

“You never expect something bad to happen to someone you love so much,” Everett’s best friend Lilly Jenkins said.

Speaking with Jenkins, there’s a lot of love for Everett.

“When something changed in my life and I was scared, Nataleigh was always the one I went to,” Jenkins said.

But Jenkins said on September 16 that she was that rock for her best friend.

“When I found out something had happened to Nataleigh, my heart jumped into my mouth,” Jenkins said.

According to Everett’s sister, Mallory Hirst, Everett was riding his bike with a friend.

Hirst thinks that at some point either something got in the way or Everett hit the brakes too hard, causing the handlebars to flip over and hit his head.

“We had heard, in fact, that he had been in a cycling accident and had a concussion,” Hirst said.

Hirst said he eventually learned that Everett’s bike accident had caused much more damage, and that Everett was taken to a local hospital after suffering several broken bones, a seizure and a brain bleed from not wearing a helmet.

“Helmet safety is an important part of biking and preventing injury,” said Dr. Robert Hughes, an emergency medicine specialist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.

Hirst said she felt helpless as she watched her younger sister lie in a medically induced coma for several days.

But he later said Everett eventually woke up and was able to go home on Monday, giving Hirst hope.

“She’s a very independent woman and that’s why she thinks she’s better than she is, but it’s only been a week, a little over a week, and I’m amazed at how strong she is,” Hirst said.

Hirst said he was even more impressed by the community’s support. Thanks to GoFundMe. Jillian Henry said she started helping Everett and his family with medical and recovery expenses.

“When something happens to Nataleigh, you feel like someone in your family is hurting, and you can see that clearly in the way the community rallies around her,” Henry said.

If you would like to continue supporting Nataleigh and her family outside of GoFundMe, there will be a benefit concert on October 5th. at 7 p.m. at 40 West 4th Street in Mansfield.