Red Level teen ‘doing OK’

Published 12:03 am Saturday, June 2, 2012

Thanks to the power of prayer, the Red Level student injured in an ATV accident May 16 is at home and is expected to make a full recover, his father, Andreiy Kondrat’yev, said Friday.

Arlin Kond-rat’yev, a 13-year-old honor student, suffered serious facial injures and a cracked skull when the three-wheeler he was riding flipped and landed on his face in May, said Kondrat’yev.

“He was released last Friday and is doing excellent,” Kondrat’yev, a Russian immigrant, said. “It’s a true, tragic accident. It fipped on him, but he was able to push it back and walk some 100 yards to the house. I was very impressed with his maturity. They brought him to the hospital. He was conscious 100 percent of the time.”

Kondrat’yev said a MRI showed “bones caved in, and they said it may touch his brain, (because) the hole was open for infection.”

The teen was air lifted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., and later Children’s Hospital in Birmingham after it was discovered the Pensacola, Fla., specialty surgeon was out of the country.

The accident occurred late that Wednesday, and on Monday, he under went an eight-hour surgery to repair the damage to his face and skull.

“That man, that very distinguished surgeon, put the bones back together with titanium plates and screws,” Kondrat’yev said. “Arlin is doing excellent. You hear about American ingenuity and the high level of medicine, but it is a miracle to myself how the Lord protected my son. He didn’t have any brain damage. We are very blessed.”

Kondrat’yev credited his church family at Rawls Baptist Church with his son’s recovery.

“Many people prayed about (his recovery),” he said. “We got a bunch of messages, calls and people did so much.

“People at (Rawls Baptist Church) prayed about him and sent messages out,” he said. “It’s basically a miracle Arlin’s alive. It could have gone the other way.”