Mom: Toddler ran over by car has irreversible brain damage

(WJBK) - A 20-month-old Pontiac girl is still fighting to live after she was mistakenly run over by a neighbor backing out of a driveway Wednesday morning.

Danielle Culbertson's daughter, Eliana, was outside with her mom when she was run over.

"I don't know what to do, I don' t know how to feel," said Danielle. "I wish I had it to do all over again. Because for that one minute I would have put her in the house." 

Investigators say on Wednesday morning a woman was pulling out of a driveway in the 100 block of Warwick Drive in Pontiac when she hit 18-month-old Eliana Culbertson who was outside playing as her mom put air in a tire.

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"It just so happened someone was leaving and they didn't see her," Danielle said.

Her mother says Eliana was a vibrant little girl who loved music, but is now fighting to recover.

"Not a cough, not a twitch, my baby's eyes are swollen shut," Danielle said. "They can't even open her eyes."

She says the doctors have given her a bleak prognosis.

"She has severe brain damage that is Irreversible," Danielle said.

The mother of seven children including Eliana, she said she doesn't know how she will make it without her little girl.

"If she doesn't make it I, don't want to make it," she said. "If she doesn't breathe, I don't want to breath."

As she waits for answers, Danielle said she has no animosity toward the driver of the vehicle who hit her daughter.

"It could happen to anyone," she said. "The bottom line is I don't blame my neighbor for it. I know it was an accident "

But the Oakland County Sheriff's Office says the investigation into this incident and what led up to this tragedy continues.

For now, this family waits and prays that somehow, some way, Eliana will pull through.  For now, this mom says she feels powerless.

"My daughter could die today," she said. "(Or) tomorrow and there's nothing I can do about it."

The family has a GoFundMe page set up to help with medical bills. CLICK HERE to go there.