Nicole

Nicole Payne was driving to school to help make arrangements for her class’s graduation the next day. Lightly falling rain mixed with dirt, gravel and oil; the combination changed the road’s surface into a sheet of death. Nicole didn’t remember the car hitting the telephone pole or ricocheting into a tree. Although it happened in 1993, Nicole’s mom Ami Austin, remembers the phone call like it was this morning.

Coaches from Nicole’s school came upon the crumpled car, knew it was Nicole and called Ami to break the news. They told her Nicole was on her way to The MED.

The trauma team went to work on Nicole, but recognizing the severity of the injuries to Nicole’s brain, the staff made sure the chaplain was standing by for Ami.

Ami didn’t know much about The MED. She certainly had no idea that the Elvis Presley Trauma Center’s staff had been conducting intensive research on seat-belt related injuries. Nor did she realize that rare knowledge was about to save her daughter’s life.

“It was the strangest thing to me that Nicole had been in this terrible wreck, was in a coma and the doctors weren’t holding out much hope that she would live, and yet there was hardly a mark on her. There was this tiny little bruise on her neck,” said Ami. “She still looked like my beautiful little angel, just a sleeping one.”

While that bruise would mean little to the average ER physician back then, the trauma team knew it meant the seat-belt had injured Nicole’s carotid artery. That was the first thing they would have to take care of.

It was a juggling act for the trauma team. They had to reduce the fluid putting pressure on Nicole’s brain. But, they couldn’t do it quickly because the artery was damaged.

Ami contacted her family doctors. She wanted to confirm that The MED was the best place for her daughter. They all confirmed for her that Nicole was in the best place for the type of injuries she had.

“Nicole’s situation was real, real touchy.” said Ami. “It got worse, and she received blood transfusions. She went into cardiac arrest. And, the whole time she was in a coma. The doctors and staff were very caring and respectful, but they never gave me false hope.”

Trauma center rules allowed Ami to see her daughter 20 minutes at a time four times a day. In between visits she stayed in the waiting area or prayed in the chapel. The days stretched into weeks. Ami saw many families come and go, sometimes enduring terrible losses.

She remembers the day she sat in the chapel praying, “God, I know you want her, but I still need her.”

“That was the day that Nicole began to come out of her coma,” Ami remembers. “It was very slow progress, and we didn’t know the extent of her brain damage. The MED was fully supportive, providing physical and occupational therapists and helping to identify the next steps for Nicole’s ongoing recovery.”

The road back for Nicole and Ami was long and demanding. Nicole was moved to a rehab facility, where she slowly relearned everything from speaking and eating to walking and interacting with people.

Today Nicole is Nicole Fisher, a wife and mother of two children. She works full-time as a New Business Coordinator and Senior Case Manager in a firm she’s contributed to for more than 10 years.

Ami credits the trauma team at The MED with saving her only daughter.

“If Nicole had gone anywhere else, there wouldn’t have been a trauma team that knew what that tiny mark on her neck meant,” said Ami. “I think this was the only hospital in the world that would have saved her life. I am grateful every day for the care, the knowledge, and the perseverance of the entire team at The MED.”

If you would like to support The Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center, you may make a donation, purchase a souvenir Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center License Plate or, if you are a licensed Tennessee State Driver, you can select an authentic Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center License Plate.