Emily Malewicz, the 10-year-old girl injured last week when a tree fell on her campsite in Lebanon during a violent thunderstorm, has been taken off a respirator and is asking to go home, according to an update this morning from the Lebanon Rescue Department.

Jason Cole, assistant chief of the department, also sent out an update from the girl’s mother, thanking supporters for all their prayers and donations.

“She is now breathing on her own and able to speak with us :)” Kathleen Malewicz wrote. “The doctors, nurses, and, yes, even Peter and I, really had our doubts whether she would be able to breathe comfortably without the ventilator…. She is so determined to get well. In fact, her first words out of her mouth were, ‘I want to go home.’ “

The girl, who lives in Millis, Mass., also wants to get up and walk around and to read the “get well” cards she has received, her mother wrote.

Emily, a quadruplet, has been hospitalized since the tree fell on her family’s tent at the Flat Rock Bridge Family Resort. The storm, which lasted about two minutes, struck on the night of Aug. 9.

Surgeons removed a 12-inch-long stick that pierced her body, less than an inch from vital organs including her heart, according to Cole.

The girl’s parents, Kathleen and Peter Malewicz, her sister and two brothers suffered minor injuries.

People from all over New England are pitching in to help the family and have so far donated more than $2,000. Lebanon’s Rescue Department  has a secure Paypal online payment center available at www.lebanonrescue.com or you can mail checks to: Lebanon Rescue, c/o Emily Fund – 323 Depot Road, Lebanon, Maine 04027.