Lexi Hartofelis was on the back of a three-person watercraft, skimming across the cool water at Lake LBJ. It was Father’s Day weekend, the day was winding down,
and the three girls were taking one last ride before heading back to shore.
Lexi, a 15-year-old looking forward to her sophomore year at Reagan High School, was enjoying a lazy day with her mom at a friend’s lake house. Her father and younger brother had left for home earlier, and a younger sister was at camp.
Another boat zipped past the girls, leaving behind some waves in its wake.
The driver of the Jet Ski turned towards the wake and gunned the engine to ride the waves sending the watercraft upward as it hit the first wave. As it rose, Lexi lost her grip and fell backward — “almost like a tree falling, slowly,” said her mother, Lisa Hartofelis, who was watching from nearby.
As she fell backwards, the powerful force of the water pumped through the engine to propel the watercraft perforated Lexi’s bowel. “The fall didn’t look bad,” her mother recalled. “She went under and she came back up. They were all wearing life jackets. She was crying. She couldn’t catch her breath.”
One of her friends jumped in to help Lexi and yelled to the adults nearby that
she was bleeding. Two men in the group one a San Antonio EMS paramedic —
jumped on a second watercraft and went to help. On shore, they could see that she had some visible lacerations and her stomach was distended.
They drove her to the Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Marble Falls, where the doctor told them she’d need a trauma center. The San Antonio paramedic suggested University Hospital and its Level I pediatric trauma center. A helicopter delivered her.
“In the ER, it was really kind of crazy,” Lisa Hartofelis said. “I tell people it was like the movies. You’ve got 15 doctors and nurses on her, and everybody is doing something. The doctor came out and said she had severe and extensive injuries.”
The first surgery took six and a half hours. Infection was a major concern
not only because of the damaged bowel, but also the lake water that had filled her belly. They cleansed her abdomen several times over the next few days and gave her antibiotics. Dr. Lillian Liao, medical director of the pediatric trauma and burn program, oversaw her care.
The surgery required an ileostomy procedure that would divert waste from
her intestines through her abdomen while she healed. The surgeons removed
11 inches of destroyed rectum and colon. Dr. Haisar Dao, a surgeon specializing in colorectal surgery, was brought in.
“Initially, I think she kind of took it all in,” her mother said. “Cried, and was angry that all of this happened. But she handled it with so much grace.”
Lexi was hospitalized for five weeks, losing 23 pounds in the process. Initially,
the family was told the ileostomy might be in place for a year. In fact, doctors
were able to reconnect her digestive tract in half that time.
Today, she’s back at school and looking forward to playing volleyball again with
her high school team after regaining her strength and stamina.
Her mother points out the watercraft had a kill switch that cuts the engine if the driver is thrown. A similar kill switch for the passengers might have prevented the worst of Lexi’s injuries.
“She’s come through so much,” her mother said. “There’s a confidence and strength that exudes from her that really wasn’t there before. She can do
just about anything she puts her mind to. I just know it.”