Sports
Edina Girls' Hockey Coach: 'Surgery Was a Success'
The Edina community has shown their support for Laura Slominski on social media and on her Caring Bridge website.
Updated, 10:30 a.m., Oct. 2: Laura Slominski, the Edina girls' hockey coach whose neck was fractured during a game Sunday evening, wrote a message on her Caring Bridge page early Wednesday morning thanking the community for their thoughts and prayers and sharing that she is "feeling great, all things considering."
Here's the full text of her message:
First and foremost thanks for all the thoughts and prayers! All of your messages and kind words have kept a smile on my face and kept me strong. It is humbling to know how much love and support there has been for me and my family during this time. Words can not express how grateful I am.
I know you were kept updated yesterday, but I wanted to make sure I checked in to let everyone know that the surgery was a success and I am feeling great, all things considering. As a lay in bed I constantly think about how lucky and blessed I am, given my injury that I am still able to move and feel everything. My nurses said I must have had a guadian angel watching over me.
It sounds like today I will get to get up and start moving around a bit and will be transferred from icu to the main floor.
Thanks again for everything!
Love, Laura
Updated, 7 p.m., Oct. 1: Edina High School girls' hockey coach Laura Slominski is recovering after a surgery on her neck, which was fractured during a women's hockey game Sunday evening.
Find out what's happening in Edinawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"Surgeon said everything went according to plan!" according to a note on her Caring Bridge page. "She will spend some time in the recovery room then head back up to her room in ICU."
Original story, 3:15 p.m., Oct. 1: Edina High School girls' hockey coach Laura Slominski will undergo a five-hour surgery Tuesday after her neck was fractured during a women's hockey game Sunday evening.
Find out what's happening in Edinawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"She went hard into the boards, back-first and suffered a C5 fracture in her neck," reads a note on her Caring Bridge page. "She is doing well right now and can move both arms and legs and has full feeling in her hands, legs and feet."
Slominski has been the Edina hockey coach since 2008. She was the second ever Minnesota Ms. Hockey during her high school career in Burnsville and went on to play for the University of Minnesota.
"I just wanted the chance to let you all know that I am doing well," she wrote in a note on her Caring Bridge page Tuesday morning. "I am confident in the plan my doctors have for me and anxious to get past the surgery so that I can begin the recovery process."
Slominski also posted a link to a YouTube video from her hospital bed.
Edina High School Principal Bruce Locklear met with Slominski Tuesday morning and told KARE 11 that she's approaching the injury with the steely nerves of an athlete.
"The prognosis is very good," Locklear told the station. "We're all hopeful and prayerful for a positive outcome."
The surgery, which is expected to last four to five hours, began shortly after 2:30 p.m.
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