Girl seeks helpers after umbrella pierced her abdomen

A nine-year-old girl is looking for two people who helped her after an umbrella pole pierced her abdomen at the MotoGP in Spielberg. ORF reported Thursday that she has recovered and wants to thank them in person.

Vanessa, from Wörgl in Tyrol, was sitting in the stands after the race about two weeks ago when she tried to fold up the umbrella she had used for shade. The handle broke as she pressed it against her body, driving the pole into her upper abdomen. She pulled it out herself, causing severe bleeding.

A woman in the crowd and another bystander quickly pressed cloths against the wound until emergency medical staff took over. Vanessa was flown to the University Hospital for Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery in Graz. Doctors found that the pole had penetrated about eight centimetres, passing through her liver and perforating her gallbladder, with blood collecting in her abdomen.

A surgical team removed the damaged gallbladder and treated her liver. She received intensive care and returned home to Wörgl a little more than a week after the accident. The hospital says she is now pain-free and is expected to have few everyday restrictions without her gallbladder.

Her family hopes to find an English-speaking nurse who pressed cloths against the wound and a man they remember as a paramedic.