12 year old talks about near fatal fall

She and her brother wandered away to look for gold, and it nearly cost the 12 year old her life.

Lilly Baker is now out of the hospital and talking in small phrases about her near fatal experience at Helen Hunt Falls.

In a shaky voice, she recalls, “I was just like walking over the edge, because I wanted to see if I could get back down there just walking.”

It’s still hard for her to speak in full sentences, due to the head injury she suffered in the 75 foot fall last Sunday.

She has three fractures in her skull, one in her nose, and two in her ankle.

“She’s freaking out about how she’s looking right now, but that’s a 12 year old for you,” says her mother, Amber Baker.

Lilly brought tennis shoes on Sunday, but left them in the car and wore sandals instead.

Her mother was a little ways behind and didn’t see the fall, but heard people screaming immediately after.

Along with the paramedics who airlifted her to Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Amber is grateful to two men who rushed to help her at the scene.

“You don’t see that very often these days, unfortunately, and she doesn’t remember. It took her 2-3 days for her to even remember anything that happened,” said Amber.

“I don’t even remember waking up in the hospital,” added Lilly.

But her memory is slowly returning, and her brain, like her bones, is expected to fully recover.

That process may take two to three years of therapy.

Days later at Helen Hunt Falls, there are signs warning others about what happened to Lilly, in hopes of avoiding a similar spill or worse.

Lilly won’t go back on the same day as the rest of her classmates, but once they make some special accommodations, she will return to school.