Allie  King was 15 and having a really good day. She was enjoying a great ride through the pines on her horse Vonna. Her father followed behind.

Allie doesn’t remember Vonna slipping on wet pine needles and flipping into the air, Vonna coming down on top of her and Vonna scrambling to stand up without stepping on her. But Allie’s Dad remembers every detail, especially the part where Allie wasn’t breathing.

As Allie arrived by helicopter at the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center, the trauma team descended in a blur of activity. You could hardly see Allie’s frail young body behind the wall of people working furiously to save her.

“It was a relief to know that some of the best neuro specialists in the country were at The MED working on my daughter,” said Allie’s mother Patricia King.

Even with the best care, the brain is a unique and unpredictable organ. In Allie’s case, she lay in a coma for nine weeks and awakened to ask for a Junior Mint.

“When I look at Allie my throat catches,” said Patricia. “Our beautiful girl was almost erased by a patch of wet pine needles. Life without The MED, would mean life without Allie. The MED definitely gave my daughter more birthdays.”

Click here to give to the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center.