Page 16 - Flathead Beacon // 3.18.15

16 | MARCH 18, 2015 IN DEPTH FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Jandy Cox helps Emily Berner adjust her foot position as she climbs the rock wall at The Summit in Kalispell. For more photos, visit FlatheadBeacon.com. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
CLIMBING TO RECOVERY
Kalispell woman continues fighting back from traumatic brain injury, toppling obstacles
t’s late in the evening on a Mon- day, but Emily Berner is still hard at work, clinging to a rock wall, moving with unexpected grace and strength toward the top.
Beside her, Jandy Cox points out her next foothold, helping her stay flush to the wall. Her hand slips, and she falls, swinging out from the wall. Her expres- sion though, is familiar: She is deter- mined, and decidedly unafraid.
“When she first started, she couldn’t keep her feet on the rocks,” Emily’s mom Inez Berner said, watching her daughter progress up the wall.
The last time the Beacon spoke with Emily and her family, she was just learn-
BY MOLLY PRIDDY
ing how to use her body again after a ma- jor car crash in December 2011 caused severe injuries to her brain, pelvis, hip, liver, and spleen.
Immediately following the crash, which occurred south of Kalispell on U.S. Highway 93, Emily was airlifted to Seattle, where she remained in a coma for months. The surgeons there were doubtful Emily would come out of her coma and, if she did, return to a life outside of an institution.
By February 2012, Emily was able to communicate with her parents by opening and closing her hand, though the entire left side of her body was unresponsive. Yet, by March 2013, she
was walking and talking, in physical therapy and working toward getting her life back.
These days, Emily, now 21, is a regu- lar at The Summit Health Club in Ka- lispell. She spends three to four hours, six or seven days a week, walking the track or using machines that are safe for her.
Despite all the work she’s put into it, there are significant challenges yet to overcome. Emily still has double vision – her brain lost the ability to merge what her left and right eye see independently – and she is still trying to regain her balance.
There’s also the issue of her muscles