HOPE — As 17-year-old Erin Newcomb walked into the Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School gymnasium for the school’s fall sports banquet, she was greeted by growing applause as her fellow students, teachers and other parents were surprised to see her return.
The shaky start to the applause indicated some people were unsure that the girl in the letter jacket was the same student who suffered critical injuries in a two-vehicle accident near the high school two months earlier.
After honoring coaches and players, Hauser athletics director Ron Hounshell took a moment to acknowledge Newcomb’s presence.
“Our hearts and our prayers have been with you since Aug. 29,” Hounshell said directly to Erin, sitting next to the walker she is using. “We are so happy, so pleased, and so blessed that you are here with tonight.”
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The 150 people in the gym gave Newcomb a standing ovation as she watched them from the front row with her parents.
Life interrupted
When classes resumed at Hauser in early August, few students were as excited as senior Erin Newcomb. Ranked at the top of her class academically, the daughter of Tom and Melissa Newcomb was delighted to get back to playing soccer, taking challenging math classes and socializing with close friends.
But all that abruptly changed Aug. 29 when a pickup truck collided with the passenger side of a car where Erin was sitting, causing her to be severely injured. The impact pushed the passenger door in by a foot-and-a-half, her father said.
Three other teens in the car suffered minor injuries, but Erin was flown by medical helicopter to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where she would remain in a coma for the next week-and-a-half, her father said.
A few days after the crash, a neurosurgeon explained to Erin’s parents that she had suffered what is medically known as a Grade 3 Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI).
Erin had a traumatic brain injury caused by the blunt force of the collision that actually sheared off neurons from her brain at three different locations, her father said.
“When we asked if she would recover, the surgeon said ‘See me in a year, and I’ll have a better idea,’ “ Tom Newcomb said.
About 10 percent of patients with Erin’s type of injury never improve, while another 10 percent make a full recovery, he said.
“But the remaining 80 percent fall somewhere in the middle,” Tom Newcomb said. “That’s likely where we will be.”
Besides the traumatic brain injury, Erin suffered a broken right arm, broken right-side ribs and suffered multiple pelvis fractures. She also had a punctured lung and lacerations to her liver and bladder, her father said.
While at Methodist, Erin was eventually moved from the neuro-critical care unit to the progressive care ward. She was then transferred to St. Vincent Seton Specialty Hospital before being admitted to the inpatient unit of RHI-NeuroRehabilitation Center (NRC).
All together, she spent 51 days in three different Indianapolis medical facilities.
Coming home
Erin returned home to her family residence on County Road 600N, about a mile west of Hope on Oct. 19.
Handicap-accessible ramps had been installed on the front porch, as well as a large “Welcome Home” banner.
Although the cost of her medical care is likely to rise above a million dollars, it appears the family has health insurance coverage that will leave them with little, if any, out-of-pocket costs, Tom Newcomb said.
Over the past few weeks, the teen has continued to show progress. She is able to bear weight on both legs now, and she has regained use of her right arm.
Improvements in her cognitive abilities, including her ability to speak, have been remarkable, Tom Newcomb said. Erin spends most of her free time doing complicated mathematical games and problems, he said.
On the same day as the Hauser athletic banquet, Erin was able to walk during a therapy session without any outside support for the first time since the accident.
But it was with the assistance of a walker that she stood with her fellow seniors at the banquet to salute retiring soccer coach Andy Hunnicutt.
Frustration and faith
There’s still a tough road ahead for the Newcomb family. The teen, who still suffers from a form of double vision, is also aware her balance and coordination are not normal.
She still has at least 12 weeks of physical therapy that will require trips to Indianapolis two or three times a week.
As a member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Edinburgh, Erin said her faith has provided her with much comfort.
But on an emotional level, she’s still coping with a diminished quality of life that keeps her from being at the top of her game, she said.
“I keep feeling like I want to cry, but it’s not physically possible (with her injuries),” Erin said. “The truth is, I get frustrated and upset a lot — even though I wish I didn’t. But I try to hold onto my faith and just power through it, because — I don’t know what else to do.”
At Erin’s current stage of recovery, such feelings and emotions are natural, Melissa Newcomb said.
Some negative feelings may stem from the short-term memory loss that prevents Erin from remembering acts and displays of support she has received since the accident, the mother said.
Among them was a special T-shirt designed by Special by Design apparel store owner Adora Paetzel and John Bragg, 17, Hope, who was also in the car and injured in the accident along with Erin.
The store has sold 248 of the shirts so far at $10 a piece, with $5 from each shirt going to the Newcomb family to help with medical expenses, Paetzel said.
Hope businesses, students and even Franklin Central teachers where Melissa Newcomb works all came in to buy multiple T-shirts to show their support. And T-shirts are still available at the store on the north side of the Hope square for more people to contribute, Paetzel said.
Additional community support came from monetary donations provided through the Students’ Fund of Hope, which paid for new handicap-accessible ramps.
Using the word “miraculous” to describe all the support, as well as her daughter’s recovery, Melissa Newcomb said the family is putting together a journal and scrapbook for Erin, so she will know later how often — and to what extent — the community stepped forward to support her.
“As she goes through this difficult time and realizes how lucky she really is, Erin will come to understand that God has a purpose in her life,” Melissa Newcomb said.
Shared experiences
Erin is the fourth teen in Bartholomew County to suffer traumatic brain injury from an accident in as many years.
The first was former Columbus North basketball standout Josh Speidel, who was critically injured in a Taylorsville car accident Feb. 1, 2015. His parents, David and Lisa Speidel, have met twice with Erin and the Newcomb family since the accident to offer their support.
The second was Cameron Fathauer, another North student who was 17 when he was struck by a car while skateboarding on Sept. 18, 2015. After earning his bachelor’s degree from college in less than three years, and now attending law school, Fathauer has also been an inspiration for the Newcomb family, Tom Newcomb said.
Erin spoke fondly of the third teen who recovered from a traumatic brain injury, Levi Sallee, saying he had given her inspiration and comfort through their shared religious faith.
Critically injured in a single-car accident on Sept. 2, 2016, Sallee was also in a coma and remained hospitalized almost two months.
Levi Sallee and his mother, Michelle Sallee, have visited Erin in the hospital multiple times, Tom Newcomb said. During one visit, the Sallee family presented Erin with a prayer shawl that they had originally received from the Speidel family, which comforted each family during their teen’s recovery.
What’s ahead?
Because Erin was well ahead of most of her classmates when the accident happened, she said she just need to complete two classes to graduate with honors along with the rest of her class next spring.
However, it’s still up in the air whether she’ll be allowed to return to school for the spring semester, her father said.
Over the next week, Erin will undergo a full neural psychological evaluation that her father said will determine how she will travel her road back to school and graduation.
Although the parents know the challenges still ahead, they expressed strong confidence in their daughter’s ability to overcome tough obstacles.
“She’s been the No. 1 student in her grade for the past seven years — and we think she can still graduate at No. 1,” Tom Newcomb said.
“I’m very optimistic,” Melissa Newcomb said. “This (accident) cannot hold her back.”
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Since Erin Newcomb suffers from short-term memory loss as a result of injuries , a journal and scrapbook are being created by her family.
According to parents Tom and Melissa Newcomb, the journal and scrapbook will serve as a constant reminder for Erin of all the acts of support she has received since the accident.
Those acts include:
- Monetary donations provided through the Students’ Fund of Hope that paid for new handicap-accessible ramps.
- T-shirts being sold at Special by Design on the north side of the Hope Town Square to raise money to help with the Newcomb family’s out-of-pocket expenses.
- The emergency medical technician who prayed for the welfare of all four injured students Aug. 29 and later provided a day bed so Erin didn’t have to climb stairs to her bedroom.
- Neighbors who provided gas cards for the frequent therapy trips to Indianapolis.
- Military and American Red Cross officials who arranged for Erin’s brother, David Newcomb, to get leave from his Texas Air Force base to visit.
- Groups that ensured the Newcomb family was provided with meals throughout the month of September.
- Flat Rock-Hawcreek Superintendent Shawn Price and Hauser Principal David Wintin, who stayed with the family for several hours at Methodist Hospital the day of the accident.
- A large number of supporters who visited Erin daily in the Indianapolis hospitals.
- Her entire calculus class at Hauser who came to visit Erin after she returned home.
- Classmate and fellow accident victim John Bragg, who likely prevent Erin from suffering facial injuries by protecting her head during the crash.
- Twice a week visits from Jordan Johnson, Erin’s boyfriend and a pre-med student at Franklin College.
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"The truth is, I get frustrated and upset a lot – even though I wish I didn’t. But I try to hold onto my faith and just power through it — because I don’t know what else to do."
— Erin Newcomb, injured Hauser student
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