FRISCO – Kimberly “Coach Kim” Puccio travels the same route to Canyons Rock Climbing weekly. She was headed home from the Frisco-based gym on February 1st but did not make it.
Casey Puccio-Gehring, her daughter, said she knew the news wasn’t good when her phone rang. Her mother’s boyfriend called because it was long past the time Coach Kim would have been home.
“Practice gets over at 9:00 at night, and it’s about an hour and 20 minute drive for her,” Puccio-Gehring said. “And so she isn’t one to make stops that late at night.”
When they decided to retrace her route, a call came in from the hospital. Coach Kim had been in an accident. Puccio-Gehring said the hospital downplayed the severity of her mother’s injuries.
The mother of four said when she walked into the hospital room, her vibrant and independent mother was unrecognizable.
“She’s not sitting up. She’s not talking,” Puccio-Gerving said.