The first thing you notice about Paige Thompson is that unassuming smile.

Next, it'll be those sparkling hazel eyes that have a little playful mischief floating behind them.

With those bright, happy eyes, it's easy to be distracted from the deep bruising beneath them. Sitting in a room filled with mylar ballons and the fragrance of fresh flowers, it's hard to see the sterility of the hospital room she spent the last week in.

And with her disarming humor, it may take a few moments to realize that the vibrant, spring-pink scarf around her forehead hides a fresh and painful scar.

On Sunday, March 18, Paige had a frightening accident.

The 11-year-old from South Heart was riding horses with family and friends out in Watford City on her grandfather's farm. The horse, Cat Tracks, named for its scars from when it was attacked by a mountain lion, was a mild one, having never given the family anything to worry about.

Paige and her friend, Netty, rode together on Cat Tracks' back, enjoying the early Sunday morning and the calm spring weather. It was about 10:45 a.m.

Paige is a horselover, having ridden quite often with her family. She knew the horse and its mannerisms.

Cat Tracks began to crow, bumping the two girls around. Netty fell off first, unharmed.

Then Paige fell, suffering a much worse tumble than her friend: She smacked her head on a tree root, the impact knocking her unconscious.

Her mother, Janine Thompson, got to her first, and saw a growing bump and cut on her daughter's forehead. Paige came to but started having a seizure. Janine and Paige's grandfather had to restrain her and keep her flat, uncertain of the extent of her injuries.

Cory, Paige's dad, called the ambulance after hearing his wife's shouts for help. And once Paige got to McKenzie County Memorial Hospital, doctors there knew she had to get to Bismarck.

Doctors called ahead, reaching neurosurgeon Dr. Alan Van Norman at Medcenter One. They told him she had a small hemorrage in the front of her brain, but they said it wasn't too severe.

Paige and her mom were shuffled onto a small plane to get the girl to Medcenter One as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, in Bismarck, Van Norman was a little skeptical about the severity of the hemorraging. There's two types of hemorrages, he explained, and Watford City assumed she had the less dangerous type. They said she was doing fine.

But when she got to the hospital at 4 p.m., the opposite was true.

On the plane ride over, Janine said it was obvious that things were not going well with her daughter. The flight was uneventful until the end, she said, when there was a drastic turn for the worse in Paige's condition.

Van Norman, while waiting for the plane, was concerned the hemorrage may be more critical than he was told. He called pediatrician Dr. Rafael Ocejo, wanting him in the emergency room as soon as the plane landed.

Everyone mobilized immediately when the plane touched ground. Paige was given a breathing tube and rushed to a CT scan.

On the way there, she began exihibiting signs of brain stem failure. Her vitals dropped, her arms began twitching.

"She began to show an arm movement that indicates pressure on the brain stem, one of the last signs before the brain stops working," Van Norman said.

And the CT scan showed exactly what he had feared: A dangerous hemorrage, which had grown dramatically since the CT scan at Watford City. It had spread across the front surface of her brain.

Within a half hour from landing in Bismarck, Paige was in the operating room. She was rushed to OR so fast that Ocejo was barely able to scrub down and throw a mask on, he said.

Van Norman began to operate immediately, Ocejo said, with absolutely no hesitation.

They were in there for about an hour.

And then Paige slept. She slept through her parent's prayers, her seven-year-old brother's sobs. Through the phone calls from worried family members and visits from Ocejo and Van Norman.

Her parents slept with her in the room, not leaving her side.

Tuesday morning, March 20, at 4 a.m., Paige opened her eyes. Her parents stood over her, held her hand and told her how proud they were that she was such a trouper.

She said: "I'm not a trooper; I'm the Army." And she managed a smile.

Ocejo was a little surprised that she recovered so quickly, attributing her improving health to the urgency in the emergency room doctors and the surgeons.

"I wasn't expecting her to come around as fast as she did," Osejo said. "She sure has come around in a big hurry. The right people were in the right place at the right time."

Three days (and an entire season of Gilmore Girls on DVD) later, she was able to walk with the help of her mom. She bounced basketballs down the floor a little. There was a smile on her face with every step, and when her doctors came into the room, her face lit up even more.

"You have the nicest smile; I'll tell you that," Ocejo said to her, then teased her about those "raccoon eyes." The injury had left heavy bruising beneath her eyes.

She fired back, telling him that she was naming her new dog, a white and brown German shorthair, after him and her brain surgeon: Ocejo Van Norman. The dog's picture was posted on the wall in front of the hospital bed, although, admittedly, it looked nothing like either doctor, as Ocejo pointed out.

That won't stop her from naming it after them, though.

Later that Friday, Paige was released from the hospital. Her mom said she "sweet talked" Ocejo into letting her go.

She's walking every day, about a quarter of a mile to the mailbox with her mom. She's eating a lot, Janine said, and has even been out to pet and feed the horses. Even after everything that has happened, she still likes horses, she says. Ocejo said Paige may have headaches for the next few months, but they do expect her to get back to school in a couple of weeks.

"She's looking forward to getting back into a routine," Janine said.

Although the family knows she'll be back on a horse again, they're taking it slow. And from now on, they're wearing helmets.

Truly, Van Norman said, had Paige been wearing a helmet, the helmet would have fractured, instead of her skull.

The head injury hasn't affected her humor or her personality, as is obvious by her answers to her friend's questions about whether or not she liked her first plane ride.

"Not especially, under these circumstances," she said with a wry smile.

For now, it's just petting and feeding horses, instead of riding. But Paige will keep busy with school work, basketball and walking. Her disposition continues to be unfaltering and sunny, her mom said.

And just like the army she said she was, the girl is still full of determination to get up and get going.

"She's our little miracle," Janine said.

(Reach reporter Crystal Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@bismarcktribune.com.)