BILLINGS — A car crash in Sheridan, Wyoming, left one 15-year-old fighting for her life with a traumatic brain injury at St. Vincent Healthcare in October 2022.
Seven months and multiple surgeries later, Emillie Morgan walked back into St. Vincent to thank the workers who saved her life.
“She shouldn’t have lived, and she is not only alive but thriving. We are seven months out. It is mind-blowing how amazing she is,” Amanda Morgan, Emillie's mother, said.
Emillie suffered internal bleeding and lacerations to multiple organs. When she arrived at St. Vincent Healthcare, she underwent surgery to remove a portion of her skull to relieve pressure in her brain.
“She was severely injured, and there was great concern about what her outcome would be,” said Heather Stamey, the senior director of emergency and critical care at St. Vincent.
Stamey was at the hospital when Emillie arrived last fall, but Stamey didn't know Emillie was returning to the hospital Wednesday.
“I see (her) face laying there in that bed, and then I saw her today and she was standing there laughing. They were talking about her T-shirt. It was just a wonderful, warm feeling,” Stamey said.
Emillie spent nine weeks at the pediatric unit in Billings before undergoing another surgery to repair her skull. She was then transferred to a rehabilitation clinic in Colorado.
She doesn't remember any of her nine weeks at St. Vincent. She said seeing everyone was a little "weird."
“They’re so excited and happy to see me and I’m like, 'Okay, hi, nice to meet you,'” Emillie said.
Her mother Amanda remembers the stay like it was yesterday.
“We took that elevator every day, several times a day, and we walked through those doors (today) we saw our people who saved my child's life,” Amanda said while crying.
Emillie just transitioned from a wheelchair to a walker, has no internal injuries and never shies away from telling a joke. She just finished her sophomore year in high school and started applying for jobs for the summer.
