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By MEGHAN V. MALLOY
Staff Writer 01/01/2008

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Meredith Polhemus, left, will be returning to Erskine Academy in a wheelchair after Christmas break. She and her stepsister Taryn Gray were in a car crash in December that broke both of Polhemus' legs. Gray is holding an x-ray showing the rod and other hardware in Polhemus' right leg.

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Meredith Polhemus, left, and her step sister Taryn Gray were involved in a car crash back in December that broke both of Polhemus' legs.

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The Whitefield girl, who turned 16 years old Monday, had intended to party with friends to celebrate her birthday and New Year's Eve.

Instead, she said she's feeling lucky to be alive to observe not just another birthday -- but another year.

On Dec. 12, Polhemus and her stepsister, Taryn Gray, 17, were driving to school when they were involved in a head-on collision.

Polhemus broke both of her legs -- her right femur snapped in two places -- and she had to be extricated from the vehicle by rescue crews.

Doctors in Lewiston operated for four hours and put metal rods in both legs.

"I had never even broken a bone before this," said Polhemus, a sophomore at Erskine Academy in South China.

The sisters were on Route 32 at 7 a.m. that Wednesday morning, when Gray said she felt her sedan start to skid on the icy roads. As the car slid into the other lane, Gray tried to stop, but it was too late; the car collided with a pick-up truck driven by Rusty Peters, of Winthrop.

"Everything felt like it was moving so slowly," Gray recalled. "It felt like forever."

Peters, who suffered cuts and bruising to his face, arms and legs, got out of his truck to check on the girls, Gray said.

The girls' parents, John and Mercy Polhemus, an Erskine science teacher and the school's assistant headmaster, Jamie Soule, soon arrived on scene.

Polhemus said she vividly remembers wanting to get out of the car, but not being able to move her legs.

"I looked down and saw my leg bent at the knee, but it was also bent in the middle of my thigh," Polhemus said. "Yeah, I knew that couldn't be good."

The sisters said the holidays for the close-knit family was different this year.

"I'm definitely more grateful and thankful, like, for everything," Polhemus said.

John Polhemus, the girls' father, said the best possible gift the day of the accident was "knowing at the end of that day I still had my girls.

"That's all that mattered to me," he said.

The sisters are popular students at Erskine Academy, Soule said.

"Honestly, they're wonderful," Soule said.

"They're unassuming, nice young ladies who are role models for other students."

Gray plays field hockey and softball, runs track, and is senior class president.

Polhemus is active in the drama club, student council, and is passionate about dance, which will have to be shelved for the next several months as she goes through physical therapy.

There will be some letdowns this spring as Polhemus heals. A chance to dance at a Boston Celtics game in March is out of the question, and she'll have to sit out her May dance recital.

Still, Polhemus said there is much to look forward to. Her goal is to be able to walk on her own by April, so she can go on a class trip to Europe.

"I've saved up my money for it and everything," she said. "My doctor said I might have to use a cane when I go, but I'm still going."

Polhemus will return to school Wednesday. "We'll be very happy to have her back," Soule said.

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431 or

mmalloy@centralmaine.com

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