JACKSON, Miss. (ABP) — A July 12 rollover of a bus carrying a church youth group to a summer camp has claimed a second fatality.
Maggie Lee Henson, 12, died Aug. 2 after a three-week battle with critical head injuries received when the bus from First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., blew a tire and overturned en route to a Passport youth camp in Georgia.
This is one of several photos of Maggie Lee Henson posted at CaringBridge.org.
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All 23 passengers were injured in the accident on an interstate highway near Meridian, Miss., several seriously. One, Brandon Ugarte, 14, died while being airlifted to the hospital.
Henson was thrown from the bus, which rolled several times, and trapped underneath. A busload of Alabama National Guard soldiers that happened on the scene helped upright the vehicle to free her.
She was taken to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss. She died at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday in a private room where she had been transferred July 31 from a kiosk in the Children's Hospital Pediatric Critical Care Unit.
Survivors include her father, John Henson, an associate pastor at the church; her mother, Jinny; and a younger brother, Jack.
Maggie Lee Henson was a rising seventh grader at First Baptist Church School.
Her parents reported details of her three-week fight for life on a website called CaringBridge.org.
"At 6:30 p.m. tonight, our precious Maggie Lee was carried into the arms of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," they said in a posting Aug. 2. "For these last three weeks, she fought for her life courageously, with the skillful help of the medical staff at Batson Children's Hospital here in Jackson. She was blessed to have thousands of people praying and pulling for her. We celebrate her eternal life in the presence of her Creator tonight."
In keeping with their daughter's giving spirit, the Henson's said her organs would be donated to help two children.
More than 200,000 visits were made on her Caring Bridge page, and more than 4,000 entries were made into a guest book. Most were from people who never met her but had been praying for her recovery from around the world.
"We were all hoping for a miracle, and it came in an unexpected form," said one message. "Maggie Lee inspired people all over the world to refocus our attention on God, our need for each other, and God's call to be united in promoting His Kingdom here on earth."
"Not many people can say that they united thousands of people across the globe," said another. "The Lord allowed Maggie to unite all of us in prayer."
Visitation is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5 at Rose Neath Funeral Home, 1815 Marshall Street, in Shreveport. Funeral services are 1 p.m. Thursday in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church. A private graveside service for the family will follow.
The wreck occurred while 17 youth and six adult sponsors from First Baptist Church traveled toward a weeklong camp in Macon, Ga., sponsored by Passport, a youth camping ministry partner of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
"The Passport community is grieving with the family of Maggie Lee Henson and First Baptist Church Shreveport," said Colleen Burroughs, Passport's executive vice president. "We extend our sympathy and prayers to all who are touched by this tragedy."
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.