CINCINNATI -- When the voice on the other end of Shamika Hyde's phone told her that her 12-year-old daughter had been hospitalized in critical condition after a Monday afternoon school bus crash, she hung up.
"I didn't believe it," she said Tuesday. "I thought someone was playing."
They called back. They repeated the message. And Hyde, heart plummeting, realized they were telling the truth.
Her daughter, Pleasant Hill Academy sixth grader Aniya Heaven McBride, spent Monday evening in a coma with severe internal bleeding after a domino-effect crash involving five separate vehicles sent her school bus spinning across Winton Road. More than 12 of McBride's classmates went to the hospital afterward, but only she stayed there overnight.
The manifest of damages was extensive: A bleeding brain and kidneys, broken pelvis and broken eye-socket. It was a relief, Hyde said, just to see her breathing on her own.
"The only thing I am worried about is taking her home and her getting better," Hyde said. "That's my baby. … I would not wish this on anybody. Nobody at all."
Hyde, who described her daughter as a good student with a playful personality, said McBride was awake and able to speak by Tuesday afternoon, although her speech was slurred due to her brain injury.
"She's got a lot of internal bleeding; she has to learn to walk and stuff like that all over again," Hyde said. "I am just glad all the other kids are okay, and I'm glad the doctors did what they could do to help my baby."
McBride was still in intensive care Tuesday night, and Hyde said she was recovering "faster than she thought," although doctors were still running tests and the family had started a GoFundMe to cover some of McBride's medical expenses.
The family has received a great deal of support, Hyde added, and she believes McBride will be OK.
"Aniya loved to dance, so we are going to get that walking together," she said. "She is funny. Everybody that knows her knows she plays too much. I want that back."
Two other children -- a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old -- were hospitalized in "serious" condition after the incident, according to police, but their father, Jordan Ervin, said they were home and recovering by Tuesday night.
Police said in a news release that charges were pending against 23-year-old Robert Jett, whose attempt to pass another vehicle led to the collision.
