Hello everyone. My name is Alison and I am Layla's Mother and Caregiver. On May 22nd of 2022, Layla was in an ATV accident. She hit a parked going around 50 MPH. She was unconscious on scene when a by stanger stopped to help her. He was a former army medic and understood the urgency in Layla’s situation. She was having agonal respirations, so he repositioned her to help her breathe a little better until paramedics arrived. Layla was intubated on scene and life flighted to St Mary’s hospital. She had a grade 3 Dai, multiple brain bleeds, a dissected carotid artery, a broken jaw and liver damage. We were told the first 72 hours would be critical and Layla was not expected to survive this. They placed a bolt in her head to monitor cranial pressure and we were prepared if the pressure climbed high enough, she would need surgery to remove part of the skull. She never ended up needing the surgery and spent weeks nuerostorming. Her body would not regulate body temperature, heartbeat or blood pressure.
On May 31st, she had tracheotomy surgery, and her jaw was wired, and later a stomach peg. She was completely unresponsive at this point, and we were prepared, this is what her future may look like. About two weeks in Layla started moving her left fingers and toes on command. On June 10th, we had Layla medically flown to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta Georgia to begin brain rehab. She came into the hospital unconscious under their disorders of consciousness program. On June 16th Layla was labeled emerged. She could perform some basic tasks like pointing to yes or no or identify objects by moving her eyes. She could type responses as well with her left hand, but her right side was still paralyzed. On June 21st, Layla walked for the first time. She still needed the wheelchair, but we were on our way to getting her to walk independently.
June 29th, she spoke for the first time. It was more of a whisper at first and she still had a lot of confusion. July 18th, we were discharged from the Shepherd Center and began outpatient at Pathways. She went back to school with her peers in the fall shortly after the school year started. By the time we had arrived home she was only on a small handful of medications. We made the decision to ween her off and try another approach and began functional neurology and added a list of supplements to her regimen. We also incorporated her regular therapies like speech, occupational and physical. We found that exercise seemed to help a lot for her, and she also began running! We also incorporated a dance class and some tumble and stretching classes. We were trying to find ways to make therapy fun for her while she could do things she previously enjoyed. School was a lot more difficult for her after the accident and physically she couldn’t perform like she did prior to the accident, but we have just encouraged her to try and have fun while doing it. She had some trouble regulating moods the first year and she fatigued a lot faster than usual.
She is different than the girl we remembered but it’s not a bad thing. She has a new appreciation for life and smiles a lot more than before. Please follow our journey on IG: @laylas_tbi_journey.
Thank you TBI One Love for having us be a part of this community. We love what you’re doing spreading awareness. It’s a club no one wants to be in but has some pretty amazing members.
