EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
Merrimack Valley
Former Andover High School diver, gymnast on life support
Published: September 19, 2008
ANDOVER — Former Andover High School diving and gymnastics standout Kristen Kearins is in a coma, the result of a serious head injury suffered in a bicycle accident in Boston last week.
Kearins' mother, Pam Sheehy, said her 26-year-old daughter has been on life support since arriving at Massachusetts General Hospital on Sept. 12. The extent of Kearins' brain injuries have not yet been determined, Sheehy said.
"It's like a nightmare," said Sheehy, a resident of Dove Lane in Andover. "We just don't know. The doctors don't know. It's hard to say."
Sheehy said friends and family continue to hope for the best.
"It's like a torturous ordeal because you just don't know what to expect or when to expect it," said Sheehy. "It's very difficult to watch every day."
Kearins, known by friends as "Krit," had been living in Charlestown for several years, Sheehy said. She is the youngest of four siblings, with sisters ages 37 and 34, and a 29-year-old brother. Kearins' father, William, passed away when she was in the ninth grade.
In 1999, Kearins was a member of the Andover High girls swimming and diving team that won the first of nine consecutive state titles. She went on to become a diving coach at both Central Catholic High School and Indian Ridge Country Club, Sheehy said.
After graduating from Andover High, Kearins earned a degree in early childhood education from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.
Sheehy said Kearins had been working as a clinical nurse's assistant in the emergency room at Children's Hospital in Boston. She also was taking classes at Bunker Hill Community College, with plans to go on to nursing school.
The day of her accident, Sheehy said Kearins was baby-sitting until about 4 p.m. on Beacon Hill. After meeting a coworker for dinner in Boston, she left on her bike to meet a friend.
"We know that she texted her friend at 8:15," said Sheehy. "They spoke on the phone for a minute and a half. That was 8:23. And then they found her at around 8:40."
Kearins was found facedown and without a pulse by a pedestrian on the Charles River Dam Bridge last Friday night.
"It was raining that night, so the bridge was very slippery," said Sheehy. "We're imagining the tires just slipped on the bridge."
Sheehy said it is possible that Kearins hit her head on the bridge railing.
Sheehy said MRIs revealed blunt trauma to Kearins' head as a result of the fall. Kearins was found with no visible wounds other than a small cut above her eye, Sheehy said.
The incident, which was investigated by the Suffolk County district attorney's office, was deemed an accident, according to office spokesman Jake Wark.
