Girl, 10, home from the hospital after being hit by car, put in induced coma

A Montreal family is feeling enormous relief now that their 10-year-old girl is back home five weeks after she was seriously injured by a car that hit her while she was crossing a street in Lachine.

Kyaa Guinto is expected to make a full recovery, despite having been placed in a medically induced coma at The Montreal Children's Hospital.

Guinto is still unsteady on her feet as she revisits the place where it happened. She doesn't remember the accident.

"I remember walking my friends home and skipping basketball practice because I was tired. I don't remember why I was tired," said the girl.

Kyaa was crossing in the middle of St-Antoine Road near 32nd Avenue in Lachine when she was struck by a car that police say was observing the speed limit in the 30-kilometre zone. Kyaa did not use the crosswalk that day.

"I don't know how that guy was doing 30 and still hit me," Kyaa said. I was able to flip and I got severe brain injury so please just be alert," she pleads now.

The traumatic injury she received is the reason why doctors decided to induce a coma.

Kyaa's mother Stephanie Ledesma says finding out about the brain injury was a terrible shock.

"There was swelling in the brain, there's bleeding in the brain. I still couldn't grasp how that could have happened to my daughter," she said.

Kyaa's scrapes and bruises are healing and she is expected to make a full recovery.

"Her short-term memory was a little bit shaky in the beginning but it's much better now," said Ledesma.

The family hasn't received the police report yet, they say. All they can do now is remind pedestrians and drivers to look out for each other.

"Be careful, be aware of your surroundings for drivers. Please let's be alert, especially around school areas. Parks have kids that are gonna be kids," Ledesma says.

With the school year winding down, there was concern that Kyaa, who missed five weeks of classes, might end up struggling to finish the year.

Fortunately, her teachers say her marks are fine, and she'll be finishing Grade 5 with her friends.