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'Nearly every bone in her face broken:' Father gives update on daughter in car crash with moose

BASSETT TOWNSHIP, Minn. — The father of a woman who was injured when her car crashed into a moose says she remains in an intensive care unit and has broken multiple bones in her face.

The Duluth News Tribune reported that Scott Nelson created a GoFundMe for his daughter, Amaya, who was driving with her boyfriend, 22-year-old Remington Delinger, in Bassett Township, Minnesota, when the 17-year-old hit a moose with her car July 8. Amaya is from Milledgeville, Georgia, and was visiting her father in northern Minnesota.

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KMSP reported that the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office said the crash occurred at 11:15 p.m. The two were taken to a nearby hospital.

"After hitting the moose, her car veered offroad and downhill," Nelson said in an email to Cox Media Group. "When the car came to a stop, Amaya was able to escape the car without assistance, climb the embankment and call 911, all after a major impact with multiple scull (sic) fractures and nearly every bone in her face broken."

"Since the moose was so large, the front bumper of the car only hit the animal's legs, meaning the airbags did not deploy," Nelson wrote. "Both Amaya and her boyfriend were wearing their seatbelts, which helped saved their lives. First responders have said that it is a miracle that Amaya and her boyfriend survived the accident."

Amaya Nelson's Dodge Neon after she crashed into a moose July 8 in northern Minnesota.

Sheriff's Office officials told the Star Tribune that the moose did not survive the accident, and game wardens representing Native American tribes in the area took the animal so it can be processed and distributed for food for tribal members.

According to Nelson's GoFundMe post, his daughter's injuries include a broken eye socket, broken cheekbones, a broken nose, multiple fractures to her skull, as well as teeth damage requiring dental surgery, bruises on her brain stem and a leak of brain fluid.

"The extent of the membrane damage won't be known until after the first surgery, and may require major open brain surgery," Nelson wrote.

Nelson says his daughter underwent the first of her reconstructive surgeries on July 10.

"Before the surgery, Amaya was awake and in good spirits," he wrote. "Her positive and strong-hearted nature are still very much intact and, above all, she's grateful that she and her boyfriend are alive."

The money raised online will go toward Amaya Nelson's recovery, including a new car. More than $1,600 has been raised toward a goal of $15,000.