Former Miss International Melanie Marquez suffers traffic accident in Utah. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/Maxine Bumgardner’s Facebook page
LAS VEGAS—After surviving a horrific traffic accident, former international beauty queen Melanie Marquez is back in her daughter’s home in Utah, recovering from serious back injuries.
Her daughter, Maxine Bumgardner (the former Maxine Dee of Manila) said Marquez was released from a hospital in St. George, Utah, where she was taken after the Dec. 7 accident.
Marquez suffered two fractures on her spine and swelling all over her body, while her companions suffered similar serious injuries, except Marquez’s son, Adam, who sustained minor injuries.
“They are doing fine,” Bumgardner posted on her Facebook page on Dec. 13. “The injuries are serious, but it’s better if they recover at home.”
However, she said it might take some time, perhaps as long as three months of wearing a back brace, for Marquez to completely heal.
“She would need all the assistance when she gets discharged. It would be hard for her to get around,” Bumgardner said.
The winner of the1979 Miss International pageant, the last and only Filipina to capture the crown, Marquez was known for the most part of her career in the Philippines as a TV personality and model.
She has six children from four marriages — Miguelito with Sen. Lito Lapid; Mazen with an Arab businessman; and Michelle and Maxine with actor Derek Dee. With lawyer Adam Lawyer, her current husband of 14 years, Marquez has Adam , Jr. and Abraham.
According to Bumgardner, Marquez was in an SUV with three others in the evening of Dec. 7 while driving from Las Vegas to her home in Annadella, Utah.
The vehicle hit a patch of ice and slid off the highway, falling off into a 20-foot ravine. She managed to climb out of the vehicle, and hiked to a place where she could call for assistance.
“Climbing that hill, it was a miracle,” she told Bumgardner. “I just felt (as if) someone carr(ied) me. Nobody knew that there was even an accident. It was dark and cold in there.”
Bumgardner said she was “on the phone with her during that time, interchanging calls between her and 911.”
“Me and my step-dad were able to find her location and call it into dispatch because my mom couldn’t locate where she was,” Bumgardner said.
They finally found her at 6:30 pm and got her and her companions to the hospital two hours later, she said.
“It so lucky that all of them are alive because things could’ve gone so much worst for them,” Bumgardner said.
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