Julia was in a coma after the accident with severe head injuries. She underwent surgery at The Queen's Medical Center to relieve swelling in her brain and has been slowly recovering ever since.

"She is walking on her own accord," Debbie Engle said yesterday outside Punahou School where Julia attends middle school. "We walk close with her just to make sure. We are looking forward to her homecoming."

Julia was transferred to the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific April 15 and is expected to be released May 6.

"That is my mother's birthday, which would be just a wonderful birthday present for my mom. And also she might be home for Mother's Day, and that would be just the most wonderful Mother's Day gift I could possibly have," Engle said.

Punahou students in the Case Middle School's May Day Court and Julia's 10-year-old sister Christina gathered yesterday to send their best wishes to their stricken classmate. Julia was supposed to be a princess in the May Day Court before the accident.

Meanwhile, city spokesman Bill Brennan said a healthy 80-foot tall Norfolk pine that was even closer to the Engle family's home on Beckwith Street than the diseased tree that fell has been removed.

Brennan said the tree cost the city about $3,500 to cut down, and that tree along with several others removed on the street, will be replaced by a different type of tree better suited for a residential neighborhood.

Engle said the family will move back into the home when Julia is released from the hospital.

"Christina would like to wait until her sister comes home," she said.

Engle said her daughter's prognosis is still "day to day," but she is very happy the girl is making steady improvement.