Name: Emily Locklear   
Age: 12
Diagnosis: Traumatic Brain Injury

     Emily Locklear was riding in a car with her grandmother in March of 2006 when another driver crashed into the side of the car right where Emily was sitting. Rescue workers had to cut Emily out of the car’s wreckage and life-flighted her to Shands Jacksonville.
      Doctors at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit told Emily’s parents that she had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury that was causing her brain to swell. They operated to put a monitor inside Emily’s head to measure the pressure building inside her head. Normally, a person’s intra-cranial pressure measures at 15. Emily’s was over 40.
      Emily was put into a coma to allow her brain to heal, but one week after the accident doctors told her parents that she would never wake up from her coma. With Emily’s parents searching for an alternative treatment, doctors told them that they could remove a part of her skull to allow her brain to swell freely, but success was not guaranteed.
      Her parents authorized the surgery and doctors removed Emily’s forehead. The surgery was an unexpected success! Emily began speaking within two weeks and had almost fully recovered within six weeks! Emily returned to school the following year where her teachers say she continues to make great progress.

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