CEDAR FORT — An 8-year-old girl who lost her parents and sister in a car accident last week has made remarkable progress and was released Thursday from Primary Children's Medical Center.

Diana Jo "DJ" Weaver was the only survivor after an Aug. 18 crash in which her family's pickup blew a tire, crossed the median, rolled, then collided with a semitrailer truck on I-84 between Tremonton and Snowville.

Her parents, Nicholas and Ruth Weaver, and her 2-year-old sister, Audrey, were killed. Their funerals were Friday in Cedar Fort.

DJ was taken to Bear River Valley Hospital to be stabilized, then flown to Primary Children's in critical condition. By Monday, her condition had been upgraded to serious condition.

Doctors estimated she could be released in two weeks, but she healed quickly, family said.

"It's miraculous how she's recovered," said Darwin Little, cousin to Ruth Weaver. "But there will be some healing at home."

She has a broken collarbone and is wearing a neck brace to help support some sore ligaments and muscles in her neck, but there's no permanent damage, Little said.

DJ will stay with her aunt and uncle, Mary and Tim Jarman, in Sandy where she can "maintain close ties to grandparents and cousins on both sides of the family," Little said.

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She will also participate in a "home and hospital program" through the Jordan School District where teachers will come visit her at home until she feels well enough to be integrated back into school, Little said.

A fund has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank, any branch, to help with DJ's medical costs.

"The Weaver family would like to thank the emergency medical responders, the Utah Highway Patrol, Bear River Valley Hospital, Primary Children's Hospital, Air Ambulance Service, AppLabs (Nicholas' employer), Rogers and Taylor Funeral Home, church members, and the community at large for their overwhelming support, love, concern, and generosity," Little wrote in a release sent to media.


E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com

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