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Doctors say PSU cheerleader who fell 5 stories ‘recovering faster than expected'

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A Kentucky teen who fell five stories out of an apartment window near Penn State University is recovering faster than expected and is scheduled to start outpatient therapy on Monday.

Doctors said they expected 19-year-old Paige Raque to be released on Wednesday from Frazier Rehab Institute in Louisville, where she has been recovering since Nov. 19.

Raque, who is a cheerleader at Penn State, fell from the window of an off-campus apartment on Oct. 13 during a party. She suffered brain trauma and broke her pelvis.

"The whole thing has been a challenge, and every day I have to push through it," Raque told reporters Tuesday when she, her parents and Frazier Rehab's medical director addressed reporters.

Raque said she is grateful for the support she has received from friends and family.

"I needed every single person that rallied behind me," Raque said. "They pushed me through it."

Raque, who was unable to speak for 23 days, said she doesn't remember falling from the window.

“I remember before the accident we had a cookout for my brother’s gymnastics team. It was a family weekend. We all went to the cookout and that’s the last thing I remember,” Raque said.

Raque’s parents didn't address the circumstances of their daughter’s fall, but focused on her recovery.

"This has to be the best Christmas gift ever," Tom Raque said.

"She has had a better than expected recovery from the standpoint of the speed of recovery,” one doctor said. “Typically we see the recovery happening in a three month process. She's going to beat that by about a month. Her rehabilitation has been a testimony to her determination."

Raque said her next goal is to walk without a walker, and in the fall, she wants to return to Penn State to complete her major in bio-behavioral health.

“I had always planned on going into the medical field and this whole thing has opened my eyes,” Raque said.