California 12-Year-Old Molly Steinsapir Dies After Tragic Bike Accident Went Viral

Molly Steinsapir, the 12-year-old California girl whose bike accident prompted prayers from many strangers, has died, her mother, Kaye Ellen Steinsapir, confirmed on social media. Molly was remembered for her love of animals and her intelligence.

“Molly has been called home to G-d. While our hearts are broken in a way that feels like they can never be mended, we take comfort knowing tha(t) Molly’s twelve years were filled with love and joy. We are immensely blessed to be her parents,” Molly’s mom, Kaye Steinsapir, who lives in Pacific Palisades, wrote on Twitter on February 15, 2021.

She added, “We know that she is watching over us and smiling at her two beloved little brothers, Nate and Eli, and her cat Leroy and her dog Calvin. In lieu of flowers, please donate to a children’s charity if you are able and please do something good for someone who needs it.”

A GoFundMe campaign to help her family raised more than $17,000. Since Molly’s mom, Kaye Steinsapir, revealed her daughter’s fight to survive on Twitter, many people have offered support.

Her original tweet read, ‘Please. Please. Please. Everyone PRAY for my daughter Molly. She has been in an accident and suffered a brain trauma. She’s unconscious in ICU. Please RT and PRAY 🙏🙏🙏.” It was liked by more than 500,000 people.

“Lord it’s me again, I’m praying for your love, strength and healing powers for this sweet girl Molly. I do not question your reasons but I pray Molly can stay with her family here on earth. Please comfort everyone involved and protect them,” wrote one woman, echoing the words of others. People wrote songs for Molly and shared stories of their own loved ones recoveries from traumatic brain injuries. Molly’s mom’s posts garnered more than 100,000 likes at times.

Sadly, it was not to be.

Here’s what you need to know:

Molly Was in a ‘Terrible Bike Accident’ in January

The GoFundme page gives details of what happened to Molly.

“On Sunday, January 31, 2021, Molly Steinsapir was in a terrible bike accident and sustained a traumatic brain injury. Currently, Molly is receiving excellent treatment from some of the very best physicians in the country at UCLA,” it says.

“Molly’s parents, Kaye and Jon, are devastated and terrified but are buoyed by the tremendous outpouring of love and support that they and their family, especially Molly, have received. You may or may not know this, but both Kaye and Jon believe in the power of prayer and positive thinking, so please keep up your thoughts and prayers of healing for their sweet and strong Molly.”

The page continued,

I know many of you are desperate to do more and so Kaye has agreed to let me coordinate support for them. Kaye and Jon are splitting their time at the hospital with Molly and their sons are staying with family, so while a lovely thought, bringing food to their home will just go to waste right now. After discussion with Kaye, we thought donations would be the best and most practical way of offering some immediate support. We will make sure that these funds can be accessed by Kaye and Jon, whether at home or at the hospital, to order meals and have other necessities delivered, and, of course, for Molly’s continued recovery. I know that all of you want to do something to help, however simple or small, and I know how much Kaye and Jon appreciate that and would do the same for each of us. Thank you so much for your support of Molly and her family.

On February 14, Molly’s mom tweeted, “Molly has been unable to wake up, although all the sedatives are gone. Her EEG is not showing activity. The doctors will do one more exam tomorrow. If Molly is non-responsive, they will say that she is no longer with us. Please pray with everything in your heart for a miracle.”

On Facebook, Molly’s mom says she’s a lawyer and mother to three.

Another Family Member called Molly ‘One of the Smartest Kids’

Another family member, Madison Bonds, wrote a tribute to Steinsapir on Facebook.

“…please keep my sweet family from California in your prayers…” she wrote. “Sweet molly passed away today. She was involved in an bicycling accident. Molly was one of the smartest kids. She was a light to all that came in contact with her, just like her mother. Please keep Kaye (her mother), Jon (her dad), & both brothers, Eli and Nate in your prayers for the upcoming days & weeks.”

Molly’s mom shared many heartbreaking details that made strangers around the world feel they knew the little girl as they rooted for her recovery. “I’m at the hospital. I’ve been reading this aloud to Molly. Books always bring us comfort. I read the Harry Potter series aloud to the kids during my cancer treatment. Molly has been a vegetarian and passionate animal lover since she was a toddler,” her mom wrote on Twitter on February 2.

She also wrote that day, “Molly is still intubated and they have increased sedation to allow rest during this peak swelling time. There is no possibility of her waking up until they try removing the sedation again. That may happen in another day or two. The process could go on for weeks until she wakes up.”

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