When Vanessa Issaka first arrived at the hospital to see her daughter, she had no idea what she was about to see.
All she knew was that her 19-year-old daughter, Kailey Kline, had been hit by a car in Harrisburg while walking home from work on May 24, just before midnight.
She had spoken to her daughter on the phone, she said, and heard cries of “I need you, mommy.”
She remembered Kline being hurt as a child, suffering a bad knee injury from being hit by a slow-moving vehicle, and imagined the current day injuries to be the same.
“With her talking, I didn’t expect what I saw at the hospital,” Issaka said.
She broke down. Her daughter was in a hospital bed with cuts and bruises all over face and stabilizing braces all over her body, she said.
Kline’s back was broken in three places, including a vertebrae on her lower back that was crushed. Her sternum and a couple ribs were broken. Spinal fusion surgery, four screws and five rods later, Kline was in the surgical intensive care unit and doctors were saying she might never walk again, Issaka said.
Police say Kline was hit by a car while walking across a marked a crosswalk at 18th and Derry streets in Harrisburg.
There were multiple witnesses to the hit and run, who saw a red sedan as the striking vehicle, Capt. Gabe Olivera said.
Olivera said the investigation is ongoing.
Issaka said her daughter often took extra precautions when walking home at night, including walking home with a friend who lived halfway between work and home. On a normal day, she would send a text to the friend, confirming when she made it home.
The night of the hit and run, she never sent that text.
Issaka said when the doctors told Kline she might not walk again, Kline rejected that idea.
“She basically told them that isn’t happening, she’s gonna walk,” Issaka said. Since that day, with assistance, she has begun taking her first steps.
“She’s improving every day,” Issaka said. Kline is walking with a cane currently and is in physical therapy.
“Kailey has a lot of strength," Issaka said. She also said Kline and the rest of her family have a lot of faith in God, and that has helped them cope with this.
Kailey Kline (second from the left) with her siblings and mother, Vanessa Issaka (second from the right). Kline was hit by a car in the area of Derry and 18th streets in Harrisburg on May 24, just before midnight.
Kline is looking forward to being an aunt soon, and Issaka believes that’s a part of what has pushed her to get better.
“I don’t really think there’s anything I could put into words,” Issaka said of her daughter’s progress. “Even if you don’t have faith of any kind, seeing somebody recover like this, you have to have faith.”
Issaka knows Kline will get through this and be fine in the end. But while her daughter works to regain her strength, Issaka is vehement about finding out who hit her daughter.
“I’m not going to stop until I find who did this,” Issaka said. “I told the police that already.”
Issaka has her theories, which she said she has shared with police. But she also knows others with information will be more important.
“Someone needs to come forward. Someone knows something,” Issaka said.
Anyone with information on the hit and run is asked to contact Harrisburg Police at 717-558-6900. You can also submit a tip through the department’s CrimeWatch website.