By Patric Hedlund

Patricia “Patti” Lenz, 51 was  taking her two-mile morning walk shortly after 8 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29 when she was struck by a car heading eastbound on Askin Drive, near the Pine Mountain Village post office. The car was driven by Morgan Lefler Collier, 31.

According to CHP spokesperson Adriaan Garcia, there was mention of the early sun blinding the driver momentarily. No citations were issued.

Lenz was contacted in Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield. She suffered major fractures to both hips, with surgery to insert “bolts, plates and pins” on the left side where two ribs are also fractured. She will need extensive physical therapy in a skilled nursing facility, she said Tuesday in an interview, keeping a brave face. “But even laughing hurts when you have broken ribs,” she said.

Cards can be sent to P.O. Box 5113 Pine Mountain Club, CA 93222. 

This is part of the September 6, 2013 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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