Baby hit by softball treated for fractured skull, brain bleeds
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A 7-week-old baby is being treated for skull fractures and brain bleeds after she was hit in the head by a softball while watching her father play in northeastern Iowa. Authorities say the overthrown softball struck McKenna Hovenga and her mom, Kassy, as they watched the game Wednesday in Shell Rock, some 95 miles northeast of Des Moines. McKenna's father, Lee Hovenga, was in the game.
McKenna was taken to a local hospital then flown to St. Mary's Hospital at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She is currently intubated and has a feeding tube and the doctors are currently working to stabilize her seizures due to traumatic brain injury, according to a YouCaring page set up by her family.
A post on the Healing for McKenna Facebook page said that after 48 hours without a seizure, doctors have started to wean McKenna off her seizure medication. A neurologist told the family that McKenna's brain activity appears calmer than before.
"Asking for everyone to pray and keep your fingers crossed for continued good news!" Kassy Hovenga wrote on Facebook.
