Catelyn Scoggins, 25, of South Roxana, has encountered more hardship in the past few weeks than most ever do in a lifetime, but she remains hopeful that she can recover and have a good life.
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Catelyn, in an exclusive interview with Riverbender.com from her St. Louis hospital room on Thursday night, shared her personal insights of the tragic events that have occurred in her life recently. Catelyn is in recovery after being struck by a car on Sanford Avenue in Alton on Monday night. Catelyn has three young children, four year-old Braeden, two year-old KJ and Brooklynne who is one. The mother of three suffers from a broken pelvis, hip and collarbone and initially suffered bleeding in the brain. In the conversation on Thursday though, she displayed optimism despite enduring what she called “horrible pain.”
“I feel like I got hit by a car,” she said emphatically. “There is no other way to put it. I am in terrible pain. The girl hit me with her car and my body hit three other cars. It was the most horrible experience of my life.”
Ashley Ellison, 20, of Alton, has been charged with attempted first degree murder; failure to report an accident involving personal injury; aggravated battery with a deadly weapon; and aggravated battery in the case.
Catelyn is in a full neck and back brace and doctors are concerned about swelling around her spine, her close friend, Anthony Greene, reported after visiting her in the hospital on Thursday night.
Catelyn said prior to the car incident she and the suspect, Ellison, were arguing. “Ashley had picked up a baseball bat, but she put it down. She got into her vehicle and I saw her run into a trash can. I was walking away. I had to get my kids at nine o’clock."
Police said several people witnessed the incident and then saw Ellison turn around and strike Scoggins with the vehicle she was driving.
Catelyn lost her husband, Kenny Scoggins, just a few weeks ago when he jumped out of a moving vehicle and said Ashley Ellison was giving her a hard time about that and that’s what sparked the argument.
“We were once close friends,” Catelyn said. “Now I have a broken pelvis, broken collarbone and hip, staples in the back of my head. Thankfully, the bleeding in my brain has apparently stopped.”
Catelyn said she was told there was a point at the scene on Sanford Avenue that she was facing death, but somehow, miraculously the paramedics kept her going and she was transported by helicopter to St. Louis University Hospital where they saved her for a second chance on life and to be with her three children.
Catelyn Scoggins’ husband, Kenny, was killed in a vehicle-involved incident in Wood River on March 16, with Catelyn also in the car. Police said that incident happened after a disagreement between Kenny Scoggins and individuals he was coming back with from St. Louis. Kenny Scoggins apparently was in the back seat of the vehicle, opened the window, opened the door and jumped out as the vehicle was moving. He died from injuries during his fall out of the vehicle.
Catelyn Scoggins told Riverbender.com on Thursday night that she doesn’t know anyone who has gone through as much as she has in a three-week period from losing her husband in such a tragic way, then nearly losing her own life.
Only a few days prior to the incident involving Catelyn Scoggins, she set up a GoFundMe page to help collect funds for her and her three children after her husband’s tragic death. The donations to the family can be made at http://www.gofundme.com/qaajtk.
Her friend Anthony Greene is planning a major fund-raising event in May in Wood River and that information will be released soon. He said Jason Isringhausen, a former Cardinals’ pitcher, has already agreed to donate jerseys for a silent auction at the event.
Catelyn said her plan was to return to college prior to the incident that happened this week and to return to work. She said she already had one year of college at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey. She planned to return to work this week as a bartender in St. Louis, but of course now, she said that is off and she worries about the future for her and her three young children.
She still wants to return to school and hopes to become a pharmacy technician one day.
“I was with my kids every day prior to the incident this week,” she said. “My husband was a hard worker and supported us, but now it is all on me.”
When asked how people could help, she said first through prayer. Second, if people wanted to contribute to her Go Fund Me page, it would also help, she said.
“I am going to be in the hospital for several days,” she said. “I have had to fight for everything I have in my life. Obviously, I am not going back to work soon.”
In closing she said, “I have to make a life for me and my kids.”
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