Thread: Super Sally Awakes....i

Update on Sally from JHGuide


.........After 11 days in a coma, a skier injured in a fall outside Jackson Hole Mountain Resort awoke Wednesday and squeezed the hands of family and friends.

Sally Francklyn, 24, responded to prompting by doctors and showed encouraging signs, friend and co-worker Eric Henderson said.

After doctors cut off Francklyn’s sedation, “All of us were on the edge of our seats,” said Henderson, who traveled to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center to visit her.

By afternoon, she was wiggling fingers and toes as he razzed her.

“She’s going to make it,” he said, ecstatic. “It’s just unbelievable.”

Francklyn, account executive at the Jackson public relations firm Denny, Ink., suffered a fractured skull and other injuries March 24 when she fell in the Once Is Enough chute south of the resort boundary. She tumbled several hundred feet and shattered her helmet on rocks.

Jackson Hole Ski Patrol and Teton County Search and Rescue responded. Rescuers flew Francklyn to the resort base and then to the Idaho hospital, where she has been in intensive care. Doctors induced the coma until swelling subsided in her brain.

Although she moved to Jackson recently from Colorado, Francklyn is well known in the ski industry, having worked as Web editor for Ski and Skiing magazines. She is a maven in social media, and her injury triggered an outpouring online. A Facebook group her brother created, called “Super Woman Sally,” grew to nearly 1,400 members, and her CaringBridge page has more than 23,000 visits.

Friends had been cheering her on while she slept, never giving up hope that a person known for her strength and positive attitude would rise from her hospital bed.

Henderson cautioned that Francklyn still has a long recovery ahead of her, and doctors are unsure what effects may linger from the injury. But X-rays and imaging tests are “fairly positive,” he said.

“She’s not [in] the clear, but yes, it’s a huge improvement,” he said. Doctors are “optimistic that she’s going to walk on this Earth again.”

Francklyn is still in critical condition, Henderson said. But if she improves as expected, she could be transported to Colorado as early as next week, he said.

Francklyn’s parents, Reg and Barb, have been involved with ski patrol at Colorado’s Copper Mountain since Sally was 16. Reg Francklyn is a photographer and wilderness first responder. Sally Francklyn had an offer to join the Copper Mountain patrol before she moved to Jackson. The family has praised rescuers in Teton County who immediately provided care after the accident.

The family is working with Denny, Ink. to devise a fundraiser to give back, Henderson said.

For a ski industry battered by bad news all winter, from avalanche deaths to the Feb. 15 helicopter crash that killed Teton County rescue volunteer Ray Shriver, the news of Francklyn’s awakening has raised spirits.

“It’s huge,” said Henderson, who was Shriver’s neighbor in Teton Valley, Idaho. “It’s a rebirth, if you will, for Sally and her family.”

Good news, Sally! Get it!

That is good news indeed!!

Here's some clarification from her brother:

All,

From what was put onto the front page of the Jackson Hole Daily, we need to post a correction better updating everyone on Sally's progress.

Sally is not "awake". Yes, she is fully off of her sedatives and paralytics. Yes, she is squeezing hands, and wiggling feet. Yes, her eyes are "open". However, these motions are not intentional. You cannot ask her to squeeze your hand, and have her respond. You cannot ask her to wiggle her toes and have her do so. For all intensive purposes, I would not consider Sally "awake" in the general sense of the word. Her level of consciousness is still quite low.

However, she IS taking steps in the right direction. Having her wiggle fingers and toes unconsciously IS better than having her not wiggling her fingers and toes. She IS starting to move her eyelids and eyebrows around a little. These are huge steps in the right direction. In order to start to move towards the status of "awake", Sally needs to be taking intentional actions like attempting to remove her ET tube, or scratch at her injuries. Doctors need to start seeing cognitive responses to their requests (like raising two fingers when asked). Currently, she is not at this point. But, with everyone's continued devotion, we WILL get there.

All of the love and support we have received on this page has been incredible for everyone involved with her accident. However, with online word of mouth, it is very easy to cause a game of "telephone" to occur. We have been attempting to avoid posting too much medically oriented information to try and prevent this from happening, and to also alleviate everyone else of the burdens associated with long term injury treatment. Things will (and are) getting better, but there are also times when we will take a step back. Please try to take our posts at face value, as hard as that is. I know we all would love to read more into them then there actually may be.

Overall Sally is improving incredibly. I will continue to caution though - we are far from out of the woods. She is still considered a critical patient, and is still residing in an ICU.

I am not attempting to tarnish hope, I just want to make sure that everyone understands where Sally is at in her treatment. Let's take this article from the Jackson Hole Daily as a foreshadowing of good news!!! Please, do not give up hope, for we have not. Continue the fight, and soon enough Sally WILL be awake, and will be able to smile and laugh like the girl we all know and love!

With ardent hope for continued improvement,

Chris Francklyn
Brother of Superwoman Sally

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3800...7199577968963/

+++VIBES+++

Go Sally!!!!!

attaboy girl!!!!!

Originally Posted by TGR420

Go Sally!!!!!

word.
c'mon SuperSally!!!

very good news indeed

Fight on Sally!!! I was fortunate enough to visit Sally and her family on Tuesday in Idaho Falls. It was incredible to see how positive her parents, brother, and friends were. I guess I wasn't sure what to expect, but they were in truly high-spirits and it was so encouraging and uplifting to see that. All of the support and positive energy from friends and strangers has really made a difference and helped her family get through this. Keep the good vibes coming!

Would love to get an update on how this gal is doing.

CaringBridge is the best page I've found for updates, but it'll make you create an account: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sallyfrancklyn/

There's also this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/380052505350337/

Seems like she's made some pretty significant progress but that there's still a long road ahead.

Word is she's going home from the hospital in Colorado Springs today. Great news.

Yup, Sally is home and doing better everyday. She's making progress and I have no reason to believe she's slowing down anytime soon. Keep her in your thoughts/prayers. Vibes still needed but what she is doing is NOTHING short of miraculous...

Awesome news!