In 1992, a 7-year-old girl named Skyla Luckey was in Biloxi enjoying her spring break. While racing bikes with a cousin she was hit by a speeding car, her head first smashing the windshield before her body hit the pavement. Life changed in an instant.
She had been a second grade student at Magee Elementary School. Now life was a moment by moment struggle. She was in a coma after suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and multiple broken bones. Her new home was in Mobile at the University of South Alabama Level 1 Trauma Unit.
Luckey, now 38, has made a documentary about the catastrophic accident that left her near death. It is available free on YouTube and entitled “Traumatic Brain Injury to Victory.” It took eight years to produce.
She says in the documentary that many people in Magee and elsewhere were praying for her, and she believes she is alive today – a miracle of God – thriving, because of those prayers.
“Doctors at the hospital referred to me as a ‘miracle child’ after I came out of a coma,” Luckey said. Initially her parents were told she would either die or live as a vegetable. She continued, “Love and prayers from the Magee community also kept me strong, and God must have heard everyone’s prayers because I didn’t turn out to be a vegetable when I got out of a coma…and I didn’t die. I am forever grateful to everyone who prayed for me.”
Luckey hopes her documentary will give others with TBI the courage not to give up and to realize they are not alone on the journey. “I had to relearn a lot of things including the days of the week and how to walk again. I want those living with TBI to know that it’s okay because their brain is doing the best it can as it deals with trauma.”
