After a brain injury, doctors said Emilie would be paralyzed, but the seven-year-old proved them wrong!

We’ve all faced seemingly insurmountable challenges. But after Renee Saltzman’s seven-year-old daughter had a horse-riding accident, doctors didn’t know if she would ever be the same. Yet her mom kept hoping and praying. And Emilie kept fighting . . .

Standing in the sunshine, Renee Saltzman smiled as she watched her two young daughters bobbing on horseback around the arena where they were taking riding lessons.

Suddenly, seven-year- old Emilie’s horse took off at a gallop. Terrified, Emilie hung on as best she could, as the horse raced faster and faster around the ring. Within seconds, Emilie was thrown, the crack of her helmet as she hit the ground echoing through the air.

Dear God, my baby! the Hopewell Junction, New York, mom’s heart screamed as she ran to her daughter’s side, praying Emilie was somehow all right.

Praying for a miracle

As

the trainer called 911, Renee began CPR on Emilie, who wasn’t moving or breathing, her right leg turned at an odd angle.

“Breathe, baby, breathe!” Renee pleaded, desperately trying to recall the chest compressions and mouth- to- mouth she’d learned back in high school.

Finally, Emilie took one shallow breath, then another.

Within minutes, paramedics arrived and airlifted Emilie to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York. There, an MRI showed severe traumatic brain injury. Emilie was put on life support. “We’re so sorry. But we can’t say when— or if— she will ever regain consciousness. And even if she does, odds are your daughter will be paralyzed,” they warned somberly.

Devastated, Renee and her husband, Jeremy, kept vigil at Emilie’s bedside.

From the time Emilie was tiny, they had nicknamed her “Perpetual Motion.” Instead of walking, she skipped, hopped and danced everywhere, often with a HulaHoop spinning around her!

Yet now, Emilie lay motionless in a coma.

“Mommy and Daddy are here. We love you. Please stay with us!” Renee whispered, stroking Emilie’s soft cheek.

Finally, after three and half weeks, Emilie awoke, breathing on her own. “Hi, baby girl!” Renee sang through tears, but Emilie— still in a vegetative state— stared ahead blankly, unable to speak or move, her right side paralyzed. And specialists couldn’t say if she’d ever recover. Then we’ll pray for a miracle, Renee thought. And once again— as family cared for Emilie’s sister and brother—renee and Jeremy refused to leave Emilie as she began rehabilitative therapy at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York.

“We know you can do this. We know you can come back to us!” Renee whispered as she held Emilie’s hand, singing, “Zip-a-deeDoo-dah,” the song Emilie always sang while waiting for the school bus.

Over and over, day turned into night. Finally, after a month and a half, Emilie piped up a single word: “Hi.”

Tears of joy and relief poured from Renee’s eyes. Nothing had ever sounded more beautiful.

But as amazing as that victory was, Emilie still couldn’t speak in complete sentences. She couldn’t walk or even eat without a feeding tube.

“Every patient with a traumatic brain injury is different. There is no way to say what to expect,” the doctors cautioned.

But Renee knew: Her Emilie was back. And she would fight all the way back.

Back to being Emilie

Even

though she remained in a wheelchair, as Emilie’s words began coming back, she continued undergoing intensive therapy in the hospital.

While progress was slow, Emilie began taking one step, then two . . . then crossing the room! And soon after all her tubes were removed, Emilie told her mom, “Thank you for saving my life.”

Renee was puzzled. “Why do you say that?” she asked.

“Because you talked to me. You talking to me saved my life!”

She heard me all along! Renee realized.

“There was no way we were letting you go!” she wept, wrapping her arms around Emilie.

Today, Emilie is back to skipping and Hula-hooping everywhere; riding her scooter and pretending to be Queen Elsa from Frozen. And though she tires more easily, she’s doing great in school, too!

“Emilie doesn’t remember her accident, so she’s still her fearless, happy self,” Renee marvels. “To have the injuries she did and recover . . . it proves that even when things seem darkest, there is still hope. With determination and faith, you can do amazing things!”

“The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.” OPRAH WINFREY