Longtime Notre Dame employee Patricia McAdams was badly injured in a car accident Sunday while returning from the women's basketball game in West Virginia.
McAdams, a computer support technician in the Main Building, is in critical but stable condition in Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday afternoon. She was flown to Parkview from the scene of the accident on Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne.
Office of Information Technologies phones have been deluged with calls from people inquiring about McAdams' condition, Associate Provost Gordon Wishon said.
"We're just devastated to learn of the accident," said Wishon, who is OIT's chief information officer. "Patricia is such a valued member of our family and the whole Notre Dame family."
The accident occurred just after 10 p.m. Sunday night. McAdams was standing outside her parked car, between the passenger's side door and the guardrail, when a passing car lost control and struck her car, The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported Monday. McAdams was then struck by her own car and thrown over the guardrail onto the embankment, according to the published report.
"She had catastrophic injuries to her legs [and] multiple other injuries," Wishon said. "After speaking to her family, they would like everyone to pray for her."
Wishon spent Monday with McAdams in the hospital. Representatives from Notre Dame were with McAdams until her family arrived from out of town that afternoon, Wishon said. She is not yet able to receive visitors, he said.
In addition to her work through OIT, McAdams has become known on campus as a devoted supporter of the women's basketball team.
Head coach Muffet McGraw said McAdams has volunteered organizing trips to away games, selling programs and helping at games for at least a decade.
"She's kind of indispensable," McGraw said. "There's a big hole with what we're doing now."
McGraw, who visited McAdams in Fort Wayne on Monday, said McAdams has been "a godsend" in helping the team build its fan base over the years.
University President Father John Jenkins presided over a fully attended Mass for the healing of McAdams at 12:30 p.m. Monday in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, University spokesman Dennis Brown said.
"There are many people at the University who hold her dear and certainly have her in our prayers," Brown said.
