Restaurant hosts benefit for teen injured in golf cart accident

Olivia Love, 17, will soon head to rehab after undergoing brain surgery

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – Days before a St. Johns County teen is scheduled to head to a pre-eminent rehabilitation facility in Georgia, a local restaurant is holding a benefit in her honor.

Olivia Love, 17, was seriously injured earlier Jan. 2 when she fell from the rear of a golf cart and struck her head on the driveway of a St. Johns County home.

The teen was flown to Orange Park Medical Center, where she has continued to recover and has undergone brain surgeries. According to her family, the latest surgery, which put a piece of her skull back into place, was a success.

Love (pictured below), a junior at Nease High School, will be moved to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta soon, her family said. The rehabilitation facility specializes in spinal cord and brain injury rehab and is a top 10 rehab hospital in the nation.

In Love's honor, 2 Creeks Bar & Grill on Capulet Drive in St. Augustine hosted a benefit on Tuesday. The restaurant is donating 15 percent of its proceeds to Love and her family to help with her recovery costs.

Kelsey Brown, a hostess at the restaurant and one of Love's close friends, said Love is on the road to recovery. 

"When I first visited her she wasn't really looking at me a lot, and now we go, I'm holding her hand," Brown said. "It's just small things every day -- getting better and better."

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Love's medical expenses.

"She's got a lot of medical bills ahead of her," said Rich McCann, owner of 2 Creeks Bar & Grill. McCann said the fundraiser was an idea thought up by his daughter and her friend.

"Whatever we can do to help, we're happy to do," McCann said. "A lot of people are doing what they can to help us and to help this family."


About the Authors:

A Jacksonville native and proud University of North Florida alum, Francine Frazier has been with News4Jax since 2014 after spending nine years at The Florida Times-Union.