FRANKLIN, Tenn. (BP) – Four years ago Erica Baggett nearly lost her life. She also marks it as the day she received a great gift.
An avid runner, Erica completed the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Nashville last April. She had already finished her first half-marathon the year before in Kentucky and wanted to accept a greater challenge. With a goal of one day participating in the Boston Marathon, she is signed up for the upcoming Thanksgiving Turkey Burn, a half-marathon in Spring Hill, Tenn.
That would make you wonder why she was so emotional after finishing a fairly nondescript 5K earlier this month.
It’s because that race was hosted at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which treats those with traumatic brain injuries. It’s the place where not that long ago Erica’s family was told to be ready; she likely would need help for the rest of her life with simple tasks like showering and brushing her teeth.
In the same way she has exceeded that prognosis, Erica not only finished the 5K that day. She was the first woman to cross the finish line.
An unforgettable day
“I remember nothing,” Erica said.Erica Baggett makes the final turn in April 2021 to finish the Kentucky Derby Festival Half-Marathon, held in Louisville. It was her first half-marathon.
She doesn’t recall the drive with her husband, Josh, and little boy, Hall, to Oxford, Miss., to watch their Ole Miss Rebels play Auburn on Oct. 19, 2018. She doesn’t remember unbuckling her seat belt and turning around to try and calm Hall, fussy like toddlers get on a road trip.
She doesn’t remember the semi-truck striking their Nissan Rogue on the passenger side nor getting thrown through the window and landing about 40 feet away. The next two months were spent at the Memphis ICU trauma center before being transferred to Shepherd, where she began to emerge from a two-month coma.
“Bits and pieces,” she said. “I remember some things from that time.”
Josh and Hall were injury-free from the wreck. Erica, however, had experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI), occurring when a sudden, external, physical assault damages the brain. She also suffered from a level 3 diffuse axonal injury (DAI).
A level 3 DAI happens when the brain shifts or rotates inside the skull. It includes focal lesions to the brainstem as well as the corpus callosum, a bundle of some 200 million nerve fibers that allows the left and right sides of the brain to communicate. It is the connector for physical coordination and the taking in of complex information that requires both hemispheres to work in harmony.
Also, it must be noted, corpus callosum is Latin for “tough body.”
The old Erica
“Help yourself to a navy outfit.”
It goes without saying that brain injuries are different than those requiring a bandage or cast. They affect a myriad of motor and cognitive functions. One of the big worries was even if Erica were to heal, would she still be Erica?
That answer came the day her father walked into her room at the Shepherd Center wearing a polo shirt and shorts of the same navy blue hue. It demanded commentary.
“I hated it and have always been sarcastic,” Erica told Baptist Press.
Josh was there as a witness.
“He had been coming in and asking how she was, but she wouldn’t reply with anything that really made sense,” he said.
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But that day, “never has a daughter roasted her dad so good. He recognized it was the old Erica.”
Progress came, but was measured differently. She learned how to talk and swallow. Eventually the danger of her falling subsided. But confusion remained.
