Father of 'amazingly strong' Irish woman hit by car in Italy shares update

Hannah Leonard is in a stable condition in intensive care.

The father of a young Irish woman who is in intensive care after being struck by a car in Italy has issued an update on her condition.

Hannah Leonard, aged 22, was completing her final long-distance training run for the Dublin Marathon on October 6 when the incident happened. 

The Wicklow woman was jogging along the Andrea Doria Avenue in Catania at around 5.30pm when she was struck by a car driven by a man in his 20s, who stopped to help. After suffering from extensive injuries and undergoing neurosurgery in San Marco Hospital, she remains in intensive care, where her condition is stable.

In an update shared this Wednesday on a GoFundMe page set up for the young woman, her father, Kevin, issued an update.

He said the family have been “so totally overwhelmed” by the response to the fundraiser, which surpassed the target of €150,000. Hannah’s family have been by her side, and allowed to visit her in the ICU for an hour every day.

“Since my last update, Hannah has had an infection in her cerebral spinal fluid, the doctors and nurses caught it early so she has been on a course of antibiotics for the last week. Infections are quite common in people with brain injuries," said Mr Leonard. 

"While we wait for the infection to clear, the updates in the evenings are still that Hannah is stable. The next surgery Hannah is due to have is to replace the piece of skull that was removed. This can only happen once the infection is gone. 

The positive signs in the evenings are that while we talk with her and play messages from her friends her mouth moves a little, we like to think that she is trying to join in the conversation. 

"Hannah's left eye is open ever so slightly and now twitches a bit, she's given us a number of big yawns this week, there is also some small movements from her body.”

He said that the hospital staff continue to show a “special interest” in his daughter.

“Even while in a coma Hannah has this uncanny knack of drawing people into her and finding a place in their hearts,” he said.

“We would ask that you all continue to send Hannah love, light, prayers, positive thoughts and light candles for her while she navigates this path that she's on. Anyone whose life has been touched by Hannah knows what an amazingly strong and determined person she is.”