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Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast as always my name is James Gearing and this week
it is my absolute honor to welcome on the show Layla and Ali Rogan and Troy Dishard.
Now I'm so excited to bring you this conversation because it is such a great example of the
absolute imperative nature of training in the first responder professions.
On May 22nd 2022 Layla was riding an ATV and had a near fatal accident resulting in a massive
TBI.
As you will hear from the events that followed from the Good Samaritan that initially found
her, the high level of training the first responders had, the continued chain of care
in the hospital and extending into the therapy side.
Another essential part of this conversation is simply to underline the danger of ATVs
when not ridden properly in the right area.
So I hope this serves as a cautionary tale obviously from the side of safety but also
diligence in training in the first responder professions.
Now before we get to this amazing conversation as I say every week, please just take a moment.
Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and
leave a rating.
Every single five star rating truly does elevate this podcast therefore making it easier for
others to find.
And this is a free library of well over 900 episodes now.
So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women stories so
I can get them to every single person on planet earth who needs to hear them.
So with that being said, I introduce to you Layla and Allison Rogan and Troy Deschard.
Enjoy.
Well Layla, Ali and Troy, I want to start by saying thank you all so much for taking
the time and coming on the Behind the Shield podcast today.
Absolutely.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, we're fans.
So this was a cool opportunity.
Beautiful.
Well, let's start with Layla and Ali.
Where on planet earth are we finding you guys this afternoon?
Wellington, Florida.
And where is that close to?
West Palm Beach.
Oh, I'm in there.
Beautiful.
And what about you Troy?
I'm same.
West Palm Beach, Florida.
All right.
Well, let's let's stay with Troy for a second.
I just want to get some of your kind of story into the fire service and then we'll switch
over to the Rogan family and start walking through, you know, Ali's journey and beyond.
So when Troy, when did you begin the fire service?
I started in 2005.
Pretty much right out of high school.
I knew what I wanted to do.
Went to fire academy, EMT and paramedic school.
Was lucky enough to get picked up by Palm Beach County in 2005.
And the rest is history.
I'll be finishing my 19th year here in a few months and have risen through the ranks.
Did some time on Trauma Hawk, our helicopter, which I'm sure you'll hear a little bit about.
And now I currently am an EMS captain for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, which we oversee
all of the EMS activities, all the paramedics in our response area, our battalion.
There's nine of us on duty each day.
Fantastic.
All right.
Just want to give some kind of backstory before we get to that point.
So Ali, talk to me about kind of your journey prior to having children and what were the
professions that you were in?
And then talk to me about, you know, the birth of your child.
Prior to kids, I really I thought I was going to go to be an artist or something in the
field.
I went to art school for college and then landed in finance somehow and then became
a mom.
So it did kind of change all of it.
I wasn't very good at it, to be honest, but I my whole path changed.
I loved being a parent, I think more than I've ever loved anything.
So I ended up I went from saying I'm never having children to having three children.
And I said I was never getting married.
And I did that as well.
Never seen.
Let's go to you, Leila, then and kind of walk through your early life.
So things I like to ask people firstly, what about sports and athletics?
What were you playing kind of prior to the incident?
What did you do before dance or just dance?
Just start with that.
OK, I did dance until I was five and five, six, five, six.
And then who told me to do cheer?
A neighbor.
My neighbor told me to do cheer, all starts here.
And I just tried it out and I fell in love with it.
And I did cheer for five to 13, so eight years.
And then I quit and did just private private lessons under season.
And I got my accident.
So I can't go back.
Well, I can.
I'm gonna.
But I just I couldn't go back then.
So yeah, basically done cheer and dance my whole life.
Like gymnastics, a lot of gymnastics stuff in there.
It's not really gymnastics.
So what about the switch to privates then?
What made you make that switch and what did you get out of that that you didn't from the
other group that you were with?
Well, it's because my gym had two locations and they opened one that was in coconut.
Is this a gym or is it?
This is a gym and they opened one in Wellington here.
And so I went there and then I was there three years and then they closed.
So they were close like they moved to go in a creek, which is a little far from me.
It's like an hour.
And I was like, I'm not driving that much three times a week, if more, because I have
to do classes and stuff.
So I just just stopped doing it.
Nobody had lessons.
I don't have to work once a week.
And then I just yeah, I tried out.
I found out what team I made the day of my accident.
It was the highest level I've ever been on to.
Now what about career aspirations when you were the same kind of age?
What were you dreaming of becoming when you graduated?
I used to want to be a business manager.
I didn't know what company what I wanted to be a business manager of.
I used to say your own.
I want to be in charge.
Yeah, I just want to be in charge.
But then after my accident, I want to be a physical therapist now or something along
with medical field.
I want to be in there.
But yeah.
All right.
Well, staying with Layla, then walk me through the day of May 22nd, 2022.
So the events prior to the accident and then we'll get to the accident itself.
You know, that's a great question.
I don't exactly remember it.
I have no from what I've been told.
What I've been told was I woke up that morning.
It was a normal morning and she went to the beach and I asked her to come get me.
And then she said after the beach and I was OK.
So I went on ATV to take time, like makeup time, whatever.
And then I got my accident.
But yeah, that's all I know.
Well, Ali, then I know we talked before.
So walk me through what you've heard as far as how that day actually panned out.
And then let's get to the accident itself and then we'll bring Troy in through the EMS
eyes.
Yeah.
So we she was actually supposed to come to the beach with us, but she was with friends
and we said she said she'd get a ride there.
So we went until I got a phone call that said first the first phone call, the person that
couldn't hear them on the phone.
So I tracked her on a location app and I could see where she was.
I knew somebody who lived local to where her spot was.
And I said, can you open your door to my daughter to answer her phone?
And they they said she's probably watching the big ATV accident that just happened down
the street.
And we knew like we just knew.
So he said they're med flighting her to St. Mary's.
Just get there.
And there was another bystander who was with her prior to paramedics getting there who
had he was an army medic, a former army medic that he found her.
He was the one on the 911 call that said, you know, she has agon respirations.
You need everything here, like all resources.
So he did reposition her and get her somewhat breathing normally again until paramedics
got there.
And what have you been told as far as the events leading up?
You know, how how she find herself on the ATV?
You know, was there a helmet?
Just kind of the details of the the events prior.
She was not wearing a helmet.
Her dad actually said to her when he dropped her at the house the day before, don't get
on that ATV.
It will bite you.
It was the last words he said to her.
And she did it anyway.
And so she and it was fast.
It was like I don't know how fast they normally go.
But from what I understood, she was going probably about 50, 55 miles an hour, no helmet,
took a turn too fast, lost control, tried to correct and went into the back of a parked
SUV.
Brutal, absolutely brutal.
Well, Troy, so talk to me about getting toned out, you know, what your position was at that
point and then what you saw when you arrived.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I was actually at the fire station that responded to Layla's call.
And these types of accidents would get my response anyways, anything involving an ATV,
a motorcycle, anything like that.
Typically an EMS captain is dispatched with it.
So I happened to be right at that at the station when the call came in and came in, went out
to the truck and saw the notes on the call.
At the same time, another EMS captain in a neighboring battalion was also kind of close
by.
So he assigned himself as well.
So we continued going.
And I could tell through the dispatcher's voice as information kept coming in, now there's
two patients, you know, one of them's, you know, unresponsive with agonal breathing.
And it didn't sound good at all.
And the vehicle that I drive is a truck or an SUV.
We can go a little bit faster than the rescues and the engines do.
So you know, a little inside joke for me, I'm not used to being first on scene of these
types of calls.
You know, my role coming in is usually to assist and to augment the crews that are already
on scene starting stuff.
So I'm not normally a first responder.
I'm at least a second responder.
But today I was a first responder on this day where I rounded the corner with that other
EMS captain who was directly in front of me.
And there was no rescue behind us right away.
So we were the first two people there.
And being that there were two patients, we each kind of went to work.
And I was lucky enough to come across Layla first.
And you know, she was in rough shape.
She's being cared for by the Army medic first responder that was there.
And you know, I've been doing this a while now where I can look at a patient and go sick
or not sick.
And Layla was sick.
So quickly realizing, OK, this is what we have.
She's going to meet our trauma alert criteria.
She's severely injured.
The other patient was as well, you know, in trying to communicate all that information
back.
It seems like, you know, 10 or 15 minutes.
It was probably only maybe a minute or two before the rescue and the engine and everybody
else showed up to help.
But it just seems so much slower.
Time slows down when you have a critical patient like that.
And we got to work.
You know, Layla was the priority of the two.
And we triaged really rapidly in between me and the other captain there.
We decided that Layla needed to go first.
So once the team got there, we loaded her up and did our thing.
You said there was two patients.
Was the other one on the ATV as well or were they a bypass?
ATVs?
OK, OK, gotcha.
So firstly, as far as, you know, initial assessment, what were you seeing by that point?
What kind of vitals have been relayed by the medic?
So my it was very surreal because obviously he didn't have any equipment.
He was trained and told over the 911 phone to don't move her, leave her there, which
is probably the best thing.
He did roll her so that, you know, that she was bleeding a lot from her face and that
he rolled her to her, you know, left her there and rolled her head to the side so that all
that fluid would drain out.
So that was a huge plus.
But you know, she was unresponsive.
She was breathing on her own, albeit, you know, with a lot of facial injuries.
And I'm not used to seeing patients.
We do training like this where, you know, we'll have EMS competitions where a patient
will be in these precarious situations.
Layla was still laying face down on the on the on the front of the ATV.
So that's exactly what he was told to do.
Don't move her, leave her right where she is.
Normally, you know, the patient's on the ground or by the time I get there, they may already
in the back of the rescue.
So and again, with me arriving very quickly, you know, we go into our triage mode and trying
to assess and do that type of thing.
But Layla was in bad shape.
You know, we got her off got her off the the ATV, put her on a long spine board, put a
collar around her neck.
You know, I immediately directed somebody to assist her ventilations, which is something
that we we train for and that we do regularly.
You know, in my role, then I step back and I start kind of directing the call and how
things are supposed to go and what needs to get done.
All of that's happening as we're loading her into the back of the truck.
And we're headed to the landing zone where we we had our helicopter coming in.
She's, you know, a trauma patient.
And our trauma center from where the accident was is probably a good 30 to 40 minute drive
by ground.
So she needs she didn't she couldn't wait that long.
So we called for our helicopter.
They were on the way to the landing zone and everything happened very, very quickly.
But but methodically calls that you know, this is these are calls that we run all the
time.
You know, they just don't always have such good outcomes.
Do you have the ability to RSI in your county?
We do.
So we do we call it DSI delayed sequence induction or intubation.
But it is it's something that all of our lieutenants and our paramedics are thoroughly trained
on.
I carry the paralytic on my truck.
So I bring that to the call.
But all of that stuff is is what's happening.
You know, IVRI in this case, we ended up doing iOS on Layla, which is the needle that goes
right into the bone to get access.
And Layla's heard all this.
She very interested in all this.
I was shocked at that.
But so we ended up getting that in.
And then of course, making sure that her oxygen saturation is where it needs to be.
And she stabilized there and her blood pressure is where it needs to be.
And that's adequate enough just to perform the procedure.
A lot of the training that we've done and all of the advancement that my agency brings
to the table is that we we've realized and we've learned that the procedure itself can
be harmful to patients if we don't set them up with their hemodynamics and their oxygenation
status ahead of time.
Fortunately, that wasn't the challenging part of Layla's case.
Her blood pressure was maintaining at the time and her oxygen saturation was being corrected
and fixed with suctioning and all of that stuff.
So that was being taken care of.
At the time, it was Layla's head injury that I felt was going to be the challenging part
of her.
We didn't know about any of the other unforeseen injuries that she ended up having.
But when I see patients like Layla and she was posturing and doing things that in the
past very devastating brain injury patients do, it's not been a very positive outcome.
So it was also that was on my mind.
I'm preparing the crew and letting them know, okay, we're doing everything that we can do.
But just so we all understand, this is an extremely critical, very, very bad injury
because that's another aspect of my job is making sure that the crew gets the support
and the CISD and all of that stuff that happens after the fact as well.
With you having critical care experience already and already working on the helicopter, what
are some of the things that you did or you could advise medics out there that would set
the crew on the helicopter up for success with this kind of injury?
Well, absolutely, my goal is to make sure when the helicopter crew arrives from being
on the other side, my goal now is to make sure that this patient is set up ready for
them.
That everything that can be done is done or is almost done by the time that they get there.
I don't want to be behind the eight ball.
That just speeds everything else up.
So obviously knowing that her airway is going to need to be controlled, that was the massive
amount of facial injuries that she had, the bleeding that was going on there and the head
injury that she had.
It is not ideal to do any of that in the back of an aircraft.
It's very difficult to do.
So I knew that needed to get done.
That information was relayed to them to expect an intubated patient.
That allows them to, if they're going to use the ventilator, they can set that up.
They can have all that ready to go.
Allows them to be prepared for post sedation drugs that are going to need to be given after
the fact, those types of things.
And as I recall, as they walked in, one of the flight medics, Frank, showed up and he
walked right in the door.
He's like, what do we got?
And we were in the middle of actually placing the tube at that point.
So she had already received her sedation.
She had already been chemically paralyzed and the intubation was moving along pretty
quick.
So that's something that I have a lot of experience with.
So to me, I felt that was going to be the most challenging part of it, which it was,
but it was something that I knew had to be done before she could be loaded for the helicopter.
So it was a good job that it was you that responded at that point and not someone that
maybe had, I mean, not being critical at all, but someone with critical care experience
arriving first versus-
We have a very good group of EMS captains.
All of us, many of us were on the helicopter at one point.
I would have been really comfortable with our group of people, but that's why they
send us to those calls.
Our group is, we train on this all the time.
We train new people on this all the time.
Our lieutenants and our paramedics go through this training on a regular basis.
And I do this with my crews.
And that's why one of the things that I've used now since Layla's case is it validates
why we train so hard and do what we do and why I kind of have a high standard for this
type of stuff.
So I don't want to pat myself on the back because I do think anybody could have done
the same thing in my position.
But it's like those things, you don't want to see these types of calls happen.
But if they're going to happen, I want to be there because I feel like I can help.
I think it underlines the importance of training no matter what rank you're in.
It's a thousand percent.
It's continuous.
I still train every week.
I'm doing something with a crew somewhere.
I float the county now.
So it just allows me now to see more people than I used to with my own small battalion.
Now I float the county, I'm in a different battalion every shift, which I enjoy.
And it just brings fresh perspectives into things.
And I have had many of these calls since.
And for the most part, they all go pretty well.
There's some hiccups here or there.
But training is key.
If we don't train for it, then when it actually is game day and it's Layla's game, we're
not going to do as well or perform as well as we did.
Absolutely.
Well, Ali, I want to bring you in in a second from the hospital on.
But just one more thing for you, Troy.
You hand off to the helicopter crew.
Were there any challenges on that flight or was it pretty smooth as far as their role?
No, it's very quick.
And what I like more about being on the ground, and I love flying, it's one of the best
jobs I had.
But the flight, everything happens so fast.
It's super fast.
And it just seems like you don't have enough time to get anything done that you want to
get done.
So being that everything had been done prior to them arriving, it made that transition
very seamless.
It's a team.
So what I know I can't get to, I know they're going to do.
And if I give them a soup sandwich, they have a lot to fix or it's going to continue to
be a soup sandwich.
In this case, Layla was packaged with a bow and everything was done the best that I felt
we could do it.
So they had very little to do other than just provide supportive care, making sure that
her vitals stayed fine and really getting her to the hospital as quickly as possible.
And then that constantly is, we set the table, they transported, they set their stuff up.
So the hospital now is on point to be able to just continue that.
And if the call starts well, typically it ends well, vice versa.
So I would like to think that I don't think they had any issues.
I didn't hear of any.
I think everything went fairly flawless for them as well.
I'm sure they gave her some pain medication and further sedation on the way and got her
to the hospital probably at less than 10 minute flight.
It was like nine.
It was like almost on the nose like the whole thing.
It was great.
It's super, it's very fast, which was a challenge when I ended up going to the helicopter.
I don't think street medics are used to working that quickly.
And that was a challenge that I obviously enjoyed at the time.
It's just getting to try having to do so much in such a short period of time.
It's a luxury that now that I'm on the ground, I realized it's completely different work.
I used to work about 10 minutes from our trauma center, so I can totally relate.
Yeah, very, very small amount.
It's extremely fast paced and now we've added in further things or we're doing blood in
the field and doing those types of things as well, which Layla may have been a candidate
for as well.
At the time, we weren't carrying that, but now we are.
We're just continually to progress as the science and as EMS as a whole around the world
is progressing.
They're just adding more and more things for us to do, life saving things, awesome things.
So, hopefully, we continue to keep up with the trends.
Beautiful.
All right.
Well, Ali, so you are on the phone.
She might be watching that ATV accident.
Walk me through how that gets you to the hospital and then what were you receiving as far as
some of the diagnosis by that point?
So, we, my friend, went over and confirmed it was Layla and said they're taking her to
St. Mary's and we were a lot closer to St. Mary's than they were.
They were by our house.
We were east.
So we packed up as fast as we could, headed to the hospital.
We actually got there simultaneous with the helicopter.
We saw her land and I never really, I don't know, I never, I mean, I've seen them, but
you don't really think about what's happening until it's happening to your person or you.
And so, when she landed, I didn't even know the protocol.
Like I assumed I can just run up in there and hug my daughter and no, that's not the
case.
You have to go inside.
And so, they brought us to the trauma base, which I had never seen that before.
And she was out.
She had everything you described.
She was intubated, which I never even knew what that was for before that day or understood
it.
She had the neck brace on.
She was unresponsive.
She looked like she was sleeping, but very beaten, very, very beaten.
And when they came in, I think they had scanned her, but they hadn't done the MRI yet.
But she had, they warned us there's multiple brain bleeds.
They kept telling us about a dissected carotid artery.
She had damage to the right carotid.
I didn't even know what your carotid artery did before that day.
I don't even think I did know that day.
I was just so, they were just coming at us with her jaws broken.
There's internal bleeding, there's liver damage, the brain bleeds.
And then before we knew it, we're going to move her upstairs to ICU.
We're going to drill into her skull and put this monitor in there to monitor the pressure.
And if the brain swells, which we were told was likely would happen with that kind of
injury, then they would have to cut the skull open and relieve the pressure.
But then I know this now because I've gone back and researched it, but then we didn't
know what they were saying.
It was just thing after thing of medical jargon that I had never heard of.
I didn't know that there was a trauma wing of the hospital.
You just don't think about it until you're living it.
It was so much new information for us and new places.
And then from there, after a few days, she didn't swell, which they kind of made it sound
like it wasn't necessarily a good thing.
It wasn't how one would respond with that type of injury.
So they removed it.
They did the MRI and we were told she had a diffused axonal injury, which they greatly
gave them on a one to three, three being severe damage to the stem and not a good outcome
typically in Layla was a three.
So it was just like, you know, there was just no good news.
Honestly, it was just like best case scenario.
She lives and more than likely will remain unconscious is what we were told.
So with the dissection of the carotid artery, I mean, that sounds absolutely horrendous
when when they kind of went deeper into that, was it just a slight lesion then as opposed
to, you know, a severe because I mean, you'd think you'd literally bleed out in seconds
if that was truly dissected.
I mean, the way they explain it to me, it's like a like the walls are almost shredded
and torn.
OK, so what's more likely to happen is blood clots and strokes.
But they really couldn't address it because how they would normally address it was through
blood thinners.
They couldn't do blood thinners because her brain was bleeding.
So it was kind of like this could kill her.
This could also kill her.
It's just what's going to kill her first is how it felt.
And then we kind of like she still has the dissected carotid artery.
She'll probably have it her whole life in a perfect world.
It never has to have any intervention.
But we've been prepared.
You know, she could need a stent when she's older at some point, as long as it's it's
kind of a mystery why it's not causing issues.
They still haven't fully understood that.
But same thing with her healing and recovery, like it just makes no sense.
Good.
I'm glad it doesn't.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, then for the family side, because at this point, obviously, Layla is still unconscious.
So talk to me about the emotional impact of this one minute.
Your daughter is literally out having the time of her life.
The next minute you're sitting in a trauma center.
It's like there's really not words that can even describe that.
It's such a physical pain.
Like you hurt all over when it's your kid.
Like it was just so physical and so overwhelming.
Like you can't breathe.
You just can't function.
And it was you.
But you also at the same time kind of go into denial.
Like there was like like one of my friends who was with us during it, she's like they
were telling you like these horrible things and you were just like, she's going to be
OK, right?
Like I just couldn't accept this was how this was going to end.
Like you almost do it to protect yourself.
But then, you know, typically doctors were making rounds and reiterating it to us.
So eventually you start to come to grips with they told us to make our peace.
Like I guess the first 72 hours are pretty critical and usually when they lose them.
So they were saying, bring in the family, bring in the siblings, like let give people
the chance to say goodbye.
And I couldn't do it.
I just couldn't.
I couldn't accept it.
It was just not it didn't feel like this is how that was supposed to end.
Like there is no way you could even make peace with that.
72 hours is not enough time.
Like there is no way.
Well, I think trending is so important when it comes to injury and illness.
And if she's continuing to spiral down, then obviously that's not a good sign at all.
At what point did they realize that it was either staying where it was or slight improvements
were happening conversely to what they were fearing?
It was probably at least a week and a half and probably closer to two weeks.
She first was neuro storming, which is where the body won't regulate heartbeat and blood
pressure and her temperature.
She would spike really high and they would throw like, like, like you would put like
fish on ice is what they were doing to my daughter.
They would just pack her with ice.
Her skin was like rock hard because it was just so cold.
Temperature would come down.
Fever would go back up.
I mean, it just, that was our cycle for so long.
And that's usually when you lose them is through those things.
But like she just kept getting to the next day and getting to the next day.
I mean, I think that they at one point thought, okay, vitals are strong.
She's probably going to live, but I don't think they anticipated she was going to wake
up and talk and walk and do any of that.
I mean, that's what waking up from a coma can look like for some.
And that's like, we didn't get that, you know, to us, like the movies, someone's in a coma
and they wake up and they're confused, but they're, they're talking and they're every,
everything's back to normal.
And it's not the case at all.
They lie to you in the movies because it's very, it could be, it looks different for
everyone.
And for her, it was just, she's probably going to remain vegetative and, but she's alive.
And like the next step was, okay, how do we prepare for her future care?
So it was like each step that she got to, we had to like learn this is what our life
will look like now.
But then she would the next day do something else.
I think it was, I want to say two weeks in when she started moving, like the fingers,
the toes, and we would ask her all the time, but she never did it.
And she started responding with like toe wiggling and fingers moving and, but still very unresponsive,
still in a coma.
Like she was still in a coma for up to, it was five weeks before they labeled her emerged.
No, it's crazy.
It's like not at all what they tell you on TV.
That was like the biggest thing to me.
And I kept saying like, how can you not fix this?
And they just, they're so little, they know about the brain.
And I was so frustrated, like, this is America.
How do we not know how to fix this?
I think I said that to like several doctors, like, why isn't there a medicine?
Why isn't there something like, why can't you fix this?
And they said that the brain is like the most, there's so many unknowns and everyone is different.
Some wake up and most don't.
And you just don't know what it's a roll of the dice.
You don't know what you're going to get.
I've made that very comment a lot when I look back at my career, because I just was the
black cloud, as we call it in the fire service.
And everyone that went into cardiac arrest, not the pre-cos to save loads of those, but
the ones that went into cardiac arrest, I never saved a single person in 14 years, which
is brutal because you do all the training and they're like, James, if you just do this,
this and this, then you get the scientist rhythm.
And then they get up and they bake you a cake and they come to the fire station and everyone
hugs on the newspaper.
Nope.
So, you know, when you look at the way that we are educated in medicine, sometimes it
is, you do A, B and C and outcome D will be the result.
And it can set us up for failure, you know, operationally and emotionally.
Now, I think it's the same with the average person.
We show up on an engine or a rescue.
We come out with all our gear.
You put the pads on, like, why isn't my grandmother waking up?
Because we've set these false expectations.
So it's interesting you say that because you're absolutely right.
And even in the firefighter documentaries, it's always the rescues.
It's always the saves, which is a very, very small part of our actual cardiac arrest survival.
Yeah.
My son is actually a firefighter.
He had just he was 19 when he started his career and three months, about three months
before her accident.
So he was, you know, dealing with the whole experience of being new and he would call
it the stress and it was very stressful.
And here's my 19 year old son who's calling me every third day after shift and just unloading
all the things he saw and did.
And it was like, I felt like we went right from that.
I'm trying so hard to support him and be there for him.
And then this happens to his sister.
So it was like all the calls he described to me.
I remember I think like there's no way they're letting my 19 year old son do and see these
things.
And then I'm thinking maybe, you know, he's not getting it right.
I'm not understanding it right.
And then I'm living it, you know, three months later, I'm like, wow, he wasn't kidding.
This is horrible.
Like this is some bad stuff you're going to see on these calls.
Absolutely.
It must have been terrible for him knowing, you know, the outcomes in the real world of
some of these accidents.
Yeah.
And he was really just trying to like prove himself to the department.
And like we knew, you know, the first year he'd be on probation and we were trying to
like just support him through it.
And then it was impossible.
Like it was impossible to support him and then we're dealing with this.
And so we had to kind of put him on the back burner.
He took it in stride and he's a great kid, but now he's almost 22.
And I still say that, but he's still a little baby to me.
And he did.
I mean, it was a tough year because he didn't really have us as president.
And he was trying so hard to like comfort us.
And you know, he like grew up overnight.
I felt like my little boy was a completely different.
He wasn't a little boy anymore because of it.
Like he had to and he did come and see her and he knew he knew those machines and he
knew the medications.
I didn't know.
Like my ignorance was almost bliss because I didn't understand any of it.
To me, it was like, OK, she's here.
She's not.
She's alive.
So this has to be OK.
And he knew, you know, he understood the medicine side behind all the equipment and the machines.
And it was hard for him.
It was really hard.
That's got to be even worse sometimes because, you know, knowing too much.
Yes.
It hurts you sometimes.
Yeah.
And he didn't even like he was so scared to like tell the department and ask for time
off.
And I was like, what are you doing?
Like, this is serious.
And he took and he takes his job very seriously.
So it was not her timing was terrible on that.
We were supposed to be like, it was right before summer.
I didn't miss any school.
Well, that time he was.
I knew what I was doing.
Yeah.
She timed it well as far as school.
She didn't miss any school.
Well, one more area of that dynamic before we move on.
I've had quite a few people now who have had children either with with accidents or with
some sort of cancer or something horrendous where it needed a lot of the parents attention,
a lot of time in hospital, a lot of visiting specialists.
And they had to be very aware of of the attention being drawn from the other siblings as well.
What was that juggling like?
Because of course, Layla is your number one priority because she's fighting for her life,
but you still have two other children as well.
Yeah, it was easier.
My son made it easy.
But my little one, you know, she was 10 at the time and, you know, she's old enough to
know something's really wrong, but too young to understand how bad this was.
And she's very attached to me.
So it was a lot of separation.
That was probably that was almost harder than watching Layla go through everything because
she was just in so much pain and just repeatedly begged her exact words over and over.
I just want our old life back.
And I couldn't promise her that, you know, I knew chances are it's never going to look
like our old life.
And but I knew we'd figure it out.
We'd find our norm.
We would get there eventually.
Like she really wanted to be involved in like helping with her sister.
She's super empathetic.
And I couldn't even I didn't think she could handle even seeing her like that.
Like I couldn't bear that until Layla was talking and functioning a little bit better.
So it was that was almost harder than Layla is dealing with the little one.
It's horrible.
Like and I'd stress that to other people going through it.
Don't forget the little ones because it is hard.
It is hard.
Layla likes all the attention, even when she doesn't ever think it's true.
All right.
Well, then let's walk through.
We've been about, you know, five weeks and you start to see the emergence now.
Walk me through what you witnessed and then let's bring Layla in as far as, you know,
her experience when she finally came around, was conscious enough to start processing what
was going on.
Yes.
So they the title emerged as what they use when you're waking up from a coma.
So I'm thinking again, it's the day she opens her eyes and she can walk and talk to her.
Her eyes are open.
There is just like no one's there.
So they bring you in.
We were at a we had our med flighted to a hospital in Georgia, a rehab that specializes
in her injury.
And they said we're going to do CRS testing, which stands for coma recovery scale.
We want to see how awake she is until she gets to a certain level.
Then they say she's emerged, which means you're no longer in a coma.
And I had I'm like, she doesn't do anything measurable.
I remember thinking like, what are you measuring?
She doesn't talk.
She doesn't walk like I didn't get it.
And it was something as simple as they held up a hairbrush and a ball.
And they said, I mean, she had to be like taken out of the bed with a lift.
She was in a wheelchair.
She couldn't even pick her head up.
Like everybody's holding different parts of her.
And they said, Leila, can you look at the hairbrush?
And it was just her eyes moving to the hairbrush was the first thing that they were like, look
at the ball.
Then they just kept moving on through the steps of and then she got to a point where
she could point that day to yes and no.
And she knew things about her life, how many dogs she had.
She knew her dog's name.
And we were just shocked because if you saw the way she was just lying there so lifeless,
I was like, she can't do any of this stuff.
And then she could, I guess we just never asked.
So it was a matter of they knew more than we knew.
And then you have to perform those tasks for three days.
And then they label you emerge, which just basically means you can tolerate longer therapies.
And then they start trying things like walking and eventually eating.
The talking came way later.
That was like towards the end.
The walking actually came first.
Yeah, I've had like texting.
She could text.
She could communicate with text, but she was clearly really confused the first couple of
weeks.
I mean, she repeatedly asked us if she was dead.
That was her favorite question.
And she forgot everything.
So maybe 10 minutes was the length of her memory and the same questions would start
all over.
Why are we here?
Why do we have to do this?
Am I dead?
Why do the days feel like they were playing?
She was very, very confused.
But just as time went on, you could see the confusion start to clear.
But I wouldn't even say she was fully clear for probably at least two months.
It takes a while.
And that was fast.
I think I did it a lot faster than people typically do.
So Layla, your perspective, what are your earliest memories and kind of walk me through
your perception, like your experience of not only how you were thinking in your memory,
but also your physical body at that point?
I don't exactly remember it at all.
But I do remember wanting to be home, like she said.
I have like asking if I was dead.
I remember that.
And I remember just feeling so lost and not knowing what was going on and who these people
were.
I throw out a lot of people and I didn't know who they were and who were these random people
so close to me.
What are they doing?
She forgot her dad one day.
I didn't know who her dad was.
I don't know how it feels.
So then what could you do at that point then?
Could you swallow water?
What was the worst part of you conscious?
Well, I had to be cleared for all these things.
So it's not a matter of like, could I do them?
It was like, if I'm allowed to, like it took a while for me to be clear to eat two filet
nuggets.
I had to clear for that.
And at first was on a mashed potatoes diet.
I don't like mashed potatoes.
So yeah, egg bites.
Yeah, there was like certain foods I could eat.
I definitely could do it.
I just wasn't allowed to.
So you wouldn't see me chowing down on a filet, but like, you know.
When you got cleared for chick filet, it wasn't on Sunday.
That would have been really annoying.
Wait till Monday.
She was persistent.
She was persistent, as confused as she was, she would make me write it because she knew
she'd forget it and say, ask Jen, who was our therapist, her physical therapist or speech
therapist, ask Jen for nuggets.
And she would keep the note in the bed so that when she saw Jen, I still do that.
I still write things down.
I want my nuggets.
And they were like, not yet, not yet.
She was pretty determined to get those nuggets.
And like I'd always said like nuggets, nuggets.
I always say that.
Well what about the physical journey then?
And as you mentioned, you were a cheerleader, you were a gymnast.
Now you're in a hospital bed and a wheelchair.
When did you start realizing in your mind that you were going to get back on your feet?
You were going to get back to cheer at some point?
It kind of wasn't like I started realizing it.
I just like made like my work ethic that I wanted to get back.
So that was like my motivation to like do everything.
Like there's a video of like recently, it was like six months ago of me doing back handsprings
and stuff.
That was only six months after my accident.
Like you're already doing, if you know what that is, it's a flip and cheer.
You go, it's like a back flip.
And it's just like things like that.
Like when I see those videos, I get like happy and excited because like I know I can do that.
And like it's just like kind of like a validation.
Like yeah, I can do that.
So that was a huge milestone for you.
What were some of the smaller ones before?
I mean, you're still not cleared for chicken nuggets at this point.
So what are some of the physical, you know, the walk, the jump, some of these other areas?
She was really determined to like, you're not allowed to independent walk.
This was a big fight and she would just get up out of bed and like go get something across
the line.
I knew I could mentally do it.
She did know, but she wasn't allowed to.
So there was many times like, Layla, you can't just, well, I can do it.
I'm like, I knew I was just in front of the window.
Yeah.
One time like I was, I mean, I'm like parking her wheelchair and she didn't walk that well.
I'm parking the wheelchair and then I had to like do things to the bed before I transferred
her in.
And then I go to transfer and she's gone and she's at the window, like looking down to
looking at Atlanta.
And I'm like, well, you know, she just did that stuff.
And it made, I mean, everybody thought it was great.
They're like, she's determined that that determination is what's going to get her out of here.
But I'm like, she's terrified me.
Like I don't know what's okay.
And what the consequences are.
If she does fall, like it was, I don't fall.
So what about the, the normal trend then?
I mean, I'm assuming that once they've got this treatment program for her, well, this
is based on this kind of person.
But as you mentioned, her injuries were such, they weren't even sure she was going to survive.
So as she's improving and kind of exceeding expectations, were they allowing her to do
more and more?
Yeah.
But I think like they really weren't, I mean, they're prepared for it, but at the same time,
they weren't prepared for it.
Like they frequently said to me, I mean, I had nurses break down crying.
They're like, you know, we know it's possible.
You read about that small percentage of someone who did this, but the fact that I not only
met her, I got to work.
I was her therapist.
So it was, she was kind of a big deal there.
It was funny.
People frequently would come to the room.
They wanted to meet her.
You know, this is the girl that did the impossible.
Like with her injury, it doesn't end like this.
And that's like, I joke and say she's false advertising because it just doesn't tip it.
We've been working with other people with brain injury and I haven't seen anything like
this where I'm like, there's no like protocol for it.
That's the problem.
There is nothing like her.
Sure.
One of a kind.
Stubborn.
So what about the emotional side?
I mean, again, you know, such a jarring event added in with a massive TBI, which we know
can upset some of the emotional side too.
How Layla, how were you able to navigate, you know, the challenges that you had and
then get yourself back to where you are today?
Persistence.
A lot of persistence.
I was stubborn.
I still am stubborn.
So many people went to school and they said you shouldn't go back to school.
Oh, so funny story.
So I got home literally like a week before school started days and yeah, days, whatever.
And so I like wanted to go back.
Like not many kids want to go to school.
I don't like school.
Don't get me wrong.
I do not like school, but I love academic validation of any validation, but academic
validation.
I love that.
So it's just like I wanted to go back and go back because I before my accident, I was
getting like strays, all this stuff.
So I wanted to go back to that because like that felt really good.
So I called my principal and I asked so I was like against doctor's orders.
I was like, what are your thoughts about me coming back?
Can I figure this out?
And then didn't he text email you?
They called me and I didn't even know she had done that.
She was still when we got home, she was still like, there was, she's out of it.
There was a little confusion.
It was a different daughter that, you know, I had before and the school called and said,
Leila contacted us about coming back and I was like, what?
You know, she's not clear to do that.
And so then we did, we brought up the neurologist and I said, and she works her, she argues
with him.
He thinks it's hilarious, but he's, she argued and argued.
Everyone told her it was too soon, but she just two weeks later, two weeks later, I was
back and I got all A's, B's and C's.
With then second quarter, A's and B's, third quarter, A's and B's, fourth quarter, A's
and B's, on or three quarters last year.
That's the most I've ever made it in high school.
Even my freshman year when I was like a genius, only two times.
But sophomore year, the year when I was not very much in there at all, I've made it three
times this year.
I'm on track to make it three times again.
Amazing.
Just relax.
Determined, real determined.
And she was already on the sidelines cheering.
That was one of her motivators is she wanted to make the first game.
She wanted to be there for the first cheerleading game.
And I'm like, not just be there, be in the, yeah.
Yeah.
In there.
So they were with every, I mean, we had so many accommodations.
Like it's just, there was nothing built for what she was doing.
Typically people do like hospital homebound where it's almost like a hybrid.
We were working from home or you're homeschooling.
You're not going in person with this kind of injury.
But she insisted and the school worked with us.
I mean, every accommodation, some of them we had to like make up because I was like,
I don't even know if she can physically do what she thinks she can do.
And it was hard, but she just kept getting better at it.
But she's very determined with everything.
How were you received by your schoolmates and your teachers when you first went back
to school?
Like a famous person.
Like a hero.
Celebrity.
Yeah.
I don't really remember.
It's a little hazy, I think.
I mean, we remember, but a lot of it she doesn't remember.
But it was, I mean, to see the kids suffer, like her peers suffer, that was hard too.
Cause kids just aren't built to process that.
And especially when we thought we were going to lose it.
And to see the kids going through this emotion that, you know, they're going to potentially
lose, you know, a classmate and you know, kids think they're invincible.
So she made it, she made death real to them, you know, where kids don't think of that.
And I felt like it changed like our whole community, her school, her friends, like everybody
was so invested in this, hopefully going to be a miracle.
And I honestly like had my doubts, but it, you know, it worked out and I felt like everyone
celebrated that with us.
Like it really impacted so many people besides just our family.
I bet a lot of your friends were afraid to ask how your summer was.
Cause your story was going to blow theirs out of the water.
No, they knew.
They didn't know I was dying.
They knew what it was.
Yeah.
Oh my God, I hear that all the time.
Where it's like, your college essay is going to be so good.
I'm just thinking like, what if I just like made a plot twist and didn't write my college
essay on my accident, like something else?
Like, I don't know.
Something inspiring.
Something else I've done.
Of all the things I've done, you know?
Find something else.
There we go.
You're still young.
Are you a junior or something?
Now, junior, same as my son.
So I want to talk about where you want to go from here, but just to kind of tie Troy
back in.
I think when we first connected, I saw a visit to the fire station.
So kind of walk me through that.
Yeah.
So, um, art, it helps that, that Layla has, uh, and, and Ali have a music studio.
And, uh, and, and Ali have a mutual friend who's one of our chiefs in the fire department.
So, um, you know, like Amanda, Amanda called me the night of the accident, wanting to know
information and it was the same type of thing, but she's kind of been the department liaison,
I guess, kind of with between your family and the department, which, um, whenever there's
something like this, like you alluded to earlier, you know, whenever we do have a save and,
you know, a cardiac arrest survivor, um, we always do try to incorporate them and bring
them back to the fire station and let them meet the crew.
And that's all part of, you know, like the, the, the mental health aspect of the closure,
you know, of, of allowing, um, our folks to see that and to meet that person and to validate
everything that they did.
And it's also great for the survivors to come back and a lot of them do, you know, want
to, uh, to meet the crews that worked on them.
Um, so that day happened.
Um, you know, we were able to coordinate that where it took some, it took some challenges.
I think it was during the summertime and everybody was off and there was such a, a larger response
to this call because not only was it, there were, um, you know, multiple, there were two
rescues, there were two engines, there was the helicopter people.
Um, so I think you had to meet everybody over a few different visits, right?
Um, but you got to meet the dispatcher, um, you know, uh, Dana, who is she's, they are,
the dispatchers are, are, uh, for sure the first responders because they, they, they often
get forgotten about and, but they are the ones that they're the first call and they
set the table and make sure that the right resources get rolling and provide any of that
pre-arrival instruction stuff.
So, um, you know, our department has made it a point to invite them as well because
they more than we do, even they just hang up the phone and go on and take the next call
and, and, and they oftentimes don't get to follow up on, you know, the outcomes, um,
just like us, you know, we, we don't very rarely, uh, Layla is a very, um, unique case,
um, out of all, you know, patients like in her situation and even in, you know, cardiac
arrest, it's not very common that, that we get to follow up and actually meet somebody
who was as critically injured or sick as Layla.
That's not normal.
It's not like, you know, the, the, there are the stories you hear about, but they don't
happen.
They're very few and far between.
So, yep.
So Layla and Allie and the whole crew got together at the fire station.
Um, I, I recall that there was some dancing being done.
Um, I don't know how many thousands of likes and views that got on YouTube, but I'm sure
it was on a few channels, you went viral.
Um, but yeah.
Um, and that happened a couple of times, you know, we've, we've gotten together a few times,
you know, for different things of, um, just like, you know, Layla was a celebrity at school.
Uh, she's kind of the celebrity within, within the fire department, you know, and, and, you
know, people who don't even know Layla and people who have never weren't even on her
call, um, refer to her by name, you know, and they, they, they'll call me and ask about
her, you know, throughout the year, you know, and, you know, so, um, it's good for us to
see that because we don't, we don't see that, you know, we don't get that, um, that closure
a lot of the times.
And it's something that, you know, it, like I said before, it gives us the reason to continue
training so hard and, and, you know, always staying on top of things, because if, if there
were no survivors, then it, like you said, it would have, uh, it's like, you know, why
are we doing this?
So when you mentioned dispatchers, I mean that they are the unsung heroes of the fire
service hands down.
They are, they are, and they, you know, they're, they're truly the first responders and they,
they lose, you know, a sense or two while they're at it.
Not only can they not see what's going on, um, they can now, I guess there's some cool
technology where you can FaceTime 911 in some places, but, um, they, they're trying to deal
with everything over the phone and it's usually not a very calm person.
You know, it's a hysterical caller on the other end that they're trying to calm down
so they can understand, find out what's going on and then get the right resources going.
And in our system, the same dispatchers, there, there's, you know, many of them in one room,
but, um, the person that's talking to me, responding to the call is either on the phone
with the caller or sitting right next to the person that is, you know, they're, they're
talking together.
So if I have a question they can relay and you can just tell in their voice, a lot of
times when we go to these calls, um, like I could tell in Dana's voice and Dana is a
very proactive dispatcher where she's, um, she's going to start the right resources,
whether I ask for it or not.
Um, and that every dispatcher does that, but she's been doing it long enough to where she
knows, okay, we need to get the trauma hawk on standby for this call and, or we need to
start another rescue or another EMS cat, whatever it is.
Um, and she doesn't get excited, but for Layla's, she, you could tell, I could tell the, the
tone of her voice was a little bit more stressed than normal.
So that obviously you, you read into that when I can hear, you know, I know most of
the dispatchers and whenever you hear a change like that, that kinda is one of the non, I
guess it is a verbal cue, but it's a, it's just, I don't even think about it.
It's something that, that something's off here.
You know, this is, this is a, gonna be a real deal.
Well, the thing with the dispatchers as well, if you and I go and work a code or an extrication,
you have all that adrenaline, but then you have that physical exertion.
They sit in the chair, they just hang up and all of that.
And they hang up and go right onto the next one.
And, and a lot of times we know the outcome, you know, we were there.
So even though in Layla's case, she, she proved me wrong, thankfully.
But the, the outcome is something that we usually have and we have that closure at least,
or we'll follow up with the hospital, but the dispatchers don't.
So, you know, I always try now to, to, if, if there is a positive outcome, you know,
most of the time I think the dispatchers just assume, you know, it's not a positive outcome
either.
But, you know, when there is one, I want to let them know.
So I'll make a phone call and talk to them and just say, just so you know, you know,
we got pulses back or whatever the situation is.
But I'll be completely honest, the people that asked me about Layla's call, you know,
that night and even the weeks after I wasn't optimistic.
I think that's just doing this job long enough has, has kind of just, I don't know if it's,
if it's hardened me or made me a pessimist or whatever.
But you know, I wasn't hopeful that, that, you know, we were going to see the Layla we
see today, you know, walking, talking, doing backflips, you know, I followed a Facebook
page and I watched and, you know, just as, you know, Amanda would come into the office
and she would, you know, talk to me and I'll be like, okay, yeah, I'm following, but I'm
still wasn't a hundred percent optimistic as to exactly, you know, how remarkable of
a recovery Layla was going to make.
Well speaking of that Layla, when, when something like this happens and someone emerges, you
know, victorious for lack of a better word, whether it's a mental health struggle, whether
it's a physical health struggle, more often than not, they become a kind of beacon for
other people that are going through that.
Did you find yourself in a position where you were able to help other families that
maybe had some children that were injured?
Yeah.
We've helped two.
Well, I've helped.
You've been with Nathan?
Well, two.
We've helped 25 families, but two, she got to be really hands on.
But tell them about your first time seeing Nathan.
So do I go into detail?
Okay.
This is last night.
Nathan is a kid.
He's 23, I think he's 22 now.
22.
And he, um, my mom, when she like found out about the call or found out about the case,
accident.
Yeah.
And she found out about it.
She like warned me and told me that like, like, prepared me that it's going to be a
lot.
Like I may not be able to handle it that if I need to leave the room, I can all this stuff.
And then we went to his room and he was in the bed.
Was he sleeping the first thing?
He was eyes open, but unconscious.
Like it's kind of like I described.
And like she walked, I, we walked in, I could just like tell she was like waiting for me
to like break down or like freak out.
And I just got, I just like, I don't know.
I see everyone as like the same person.
Cause like personally, like when I was like in a wheelchair or like when I was in the
bed, I wouldn't want to be treated like I'm five or like just like, I'm like unable to
do stuff.
So I treat everyone the same cause like, I wouldn't want to be treated like that.
I would hate it.
So like me personally, I know how I would feel.
Maybe they wouldn't feel the same, but it's like, so I'm going to do that.
Right.
So I'm going to act like they're awake and talking to me and like, yeah.
Yeah.
The family's appreciated though.
I wasn't sure how she would take it.
She wanted to come.
She wanted to help.
Um, there's still friends to this day.
Yeah.
Um, Palm beach County ran that call too, and did an amazing job.
And he, like, I think that's what he loves about Layla.
She doesn't treat him like someone with a brain injury or someone with a disability.
And she just roughs them up.
She's super rough with them to the point where I'm like, easy, you know, you're going to
hurt them.
And his mom is like, he loves it.
Are you kidding?
She treats them like a normal person where most people don't.
You know, then you have Layla who's like trying to make him make some more of those videos
or she's shoving them or playing with them.
But she has like a real calling for it.
I'm like, it's scary because you don't know what she's going to do sometimes.
I know.
You do, but it's been cool to see her give back, you know, to those people and, you know,
kind of like, cause it's scary on the other side of this, especially when you're, you
know, we're only two years out and it's probably the first two years or if they say are the
hardest, we just had a really remarkable recovery.
So I don't, we try to like help the ones who don't, it doesn't typically end like this.
I think it's just a beautiful element of hope though.
It doesn't mean that the other people are guaranteed to be able to get through that
journey, but you know, the belief side is part of healing.
You know, I mean, the body is incredible.
And it's funny because when I was younger going into science, we were told once brain
tissue is, is dead, it's dead.
That's it.
You know, if you have a concussion or whatever, that's it.
You know, nerves are severed.
That's it.
And now you see, no, no, you have long nerves can regenerate brain can regenerate.
So now you get, you add that belief, you know, if someone's has that minute potential of
actually surviving and you add that element of hope, like Layla's story, and that might
be the, the, just that minute difference between not surviving and surviving.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of recovery and I share this with a lot of the families, a lot of
the recovery is in the hands of the caretakers or whoever is taking care of that person where
I'm like, the more involved you are, the more, you know, we were super involved in her recovery.
We like did so much, anything they taught us or trained us, we were going to run and
do it with Layla.
So it was almost like we were constantly working with her.
She was, you know, she's easy to train because she was usually pretty eager to do it.
But I, it's so much is on the caretakers where I just stress that I know it's hard.
I know you feel beaten.
You just want to like crawl into the corner and cry, but cry later, you know, while they
need you, like you just got to do the work.
You have to work and you have to work them and then yeah, you're going to break down.
But a lot of it falls in the hands of the caretakers and what you're willing to do
for your person.
Like it plays a big role in it.
It really does.
Well, Layla, speaking of all the medical professionals that you interacted with, you meant you kind
of touched on this at the beginning.
What has that inspired you as far as your career journey?
I don't, I can't like go into detail on that, but like, I just want to be like them and
I see how they like help other people.
And like, I've like been able to watch them like do their jobs.
I know they're not really doing much, but like, you don't understand.
It's a lot like me and I just see like the little things that go into it.
And I just like want to like study that and like learn everything they're doing and be
able to like regenerate, replicate what they're doing.
And with your own style, because you definitely have your own style.
And what about from the athletic point of view?
I mean, you're still passionate about cheer.
So where do you hope to go in a few years?
I hope to win worlds.
I'm being dead serious.
I want to win worlds.
She's taking it to the team.
She's allowed to be doing all those flips.
No, I got cleared.
I got cleared.
What are you talking about?
I got cleared.
Thank you very much.
I had to, I went to my neurologist and I had, I wrote him a whole thing in my notes app
about why I should be cleared and like convinced him.
He wrote me a note that like basically-
She was stumbling for a year before he gave her that letter.
For us to submit that.
But I'm saying then I wrote them, I wrote them all those notes, whatever.
And then he's, he basically cleared me, but he said like with restrictions, but I have
an appointment in June and I'm going to get fully cleared and I'm going to go back to
cheer and I'm going to win worlds.
I'm like saying right here, I'm going to win worlds.
You heard it here first.
All right, well then Ali, let's talk about the book.
So you mentioned about emerging being coming out of a coma.
So talk to me about the book that you've written to talk about everything we've talked about
today.
Yeah.
So it's basically when this happened, it was Amanda who we were discussing earlier, our
mutual friend.
She created a Facebook page for, for like the news to go out about what was going on
with Layla.
She had no intentions of even writing on the page.
Amanda was going to get those messages out with the updates.
And it was right around day three.
I just wanted to write it myself.
They had formed like a whole prayer vigil under her window and it was, it meant a lot
to me.
So I wanted to be able to get on there and say, thank you and give my own update, which
that ended up.
I wrote 58 consecutive posts through the course of it.
And that was really the amount, like the 58 plus the three days from the day we started
to the day she walked out of the Shepherd Center.
Then a lot of it was just me being super vulnerable, what this felt like, what was happening, you
know, the way it was impacting people.
And I kept hearing over and over, you know, when it was over, even during it, you should
really write a book.
You should really write a book.
And I kind of laughed.
I was like, I'm in finance.
I don't do, I'm not an English person.
I like to read.
That was it.
So I finally just, once we were home, not right away, it was probably like six months
after we were home, I'm like, I'm going to do it because there was so many people that,
you know, like me, you have no idea what you're stepping into when your person has a brain
injury.
Like it's again, I keep comparing it to what you think because of the TV or movies.
And it's not like that.
So I really, and it's raw and it's super, you know, it's for some people, it's hard
to read, especially if you know, or because the beginning days were really tough.
So it kind of takes you through my day by day because I had it all journal because of
that Facebook page.
So it's basically those journal entries with a little bit more stuff that I didn't release
to the world then, you know, cause it was just, I tried to keep everyone as positive
as we wanted them to be.
And we still had hope for Layla, but so it kind of just takes you through that, you know,
the two months, the first two months from when it started to when she walked out.
And I hope it gives people hope, you know, the brain injury people that have read it,
some of them I knew, some of them found us online have really enjoyed it.
And then like, it's, it's really accurate, you know, what you're living and what you're
feeling and the emotions you go through.
And there's, there was like no books on it either.
And that was something I like to read.
So I kept asking nurses and doctors like, how is there no books on this?
Like someone's personal story.
There was like one and it was written like 30 years ago and it was super outdated and
it was from, it was a spouse.
So in my case, it's my daughter.
And a lot of times it is, you know, your kid that did something to cause the brain injury.
So I just thought, okay, I guess I'm going to be the one that writes it.
And I did.
And it was really healing to write it.
I felt like to relive it again was hard, but I knew how it ended.
So it was a little easier, you know, talking about it the second time around.
And just one more kind of topic prevention before we go to some closing questions.
If you could relive it, I mean, what happened happened, you know, and advice was given and
choices were made, but between, you know, not pointing the fingers or blame or anything
like that, but if you could redo that day, what would be done differently or maybe weeks
prior to maybe avoid that accident happening?
She's pretty tough.
You know, she doesn't really take no well for an answer.
So I even said this in the book.
I said, I wish I made her come that day.
I knew when she started to argue, I don't want to come.
And it was like a very rare day when my whole family was available and we were going to
the beach and it was all I wanted.
And I knew if I argue with her, she'll come, she'll probably be mad at me for the first
hour of it.
We're going to fight.
I didn't want to ruin that family day with a fight.
And I should have chosen the fight.
You know, I think of that all the time.
Why do you choose the fight?
But I didn't, you know, I didn't, I was tired.
I didn't want to argue with her.
So that's what I probably because it would have stopped the whole thing.
She would have been in my car, you know, heading down there versus bored, crashing ATVs.
But from, from the actual ATV point, I mean, a vehicle is obviously appropriate in certain
conditions, environments, certain, you know, safety gear, et cetera, because we can't watch
over our children the whole time.
And obviously we have to loosen the apron strings.
Otherwise they end up being completely bonkers because we've helicopter parented them.
So there is that middle ground.
And I mean, you're a first responder is even more terrifying because you see the things
that happen out there.
But are there any, any things, you know, for an ATV owner or anything, someone that might
potentially be using that, that maybe could have resulted in just a fun ride versus an
accident?
I mean, we saw a lot of people at that brain rehab.
I would say like a good 25% were just ATVs.
So this is happening a lot on those things.
Way more than I had realized, I knew that, you know, the house she was at, they had one,
we didn't really stress it enough.
We didn't really understand them, I guess, and how common injury was with them.
She should have never been riding it in a development on a street.
You know, that was the first thing.
Yes, of course she should have had the helmet on.
But it's because I'm not against ATVs.
I think they're, they're great.
They're fun.
If they're in the right environment and situation, like if she was in a big open field, like
in a place that's kind of designed for this, that would have been fine.
She was in a community.
She should have never been riding it on a, like a residential road.
That was her first mistake was that.
So that's really what I tell people, be aware.
I know the people treat them like they're toys.
They're not toys.
Same thing with golf carts.
I'm like, you need to really be aware.
We saw so many head injuries at that hospital and you don't end up at the Shepherd Center
unless you have a major head injury and a ton of it was ATVs and golf carts.
Like that really did shock me.
I was like, these things are so much more dangerous than I thought.
You know, and it's, we still hear about them now all the time of how common it is, how
frequent.
I mean, we have a little boy that we, he's not what he was in high school, but he's paralyzed.
You know, he from, it was an ATV.
He jumped off the back of an ATV.
So it's, I think it's just the, the nature of them.
You get on them and you think I'm invincible and nothing's going to hurt me on these things.
And I was guilty of it too.
Like I didn't really get it until my daughter was the consequence of that, you know, care
freeness with them, but they are, they're machines.
You know, they're like cars.
Well, a lot of them go as fast as cars.
This one in particular did.
And so you really just environment to me was everything.
Like I'd still let her get on one and it would probably be hard at first, but in the right
environment, like I'm all about like the right environment and the right precautions.
And maybe someone who I don't know how to ride them.
So I wouldn't teach her to do it.
She would probably need someone who understood them better than me.
Yeah.
And I think it's just an important takeaway.
You know, this happened.
What else can we learn may prevent someone else in the future.
Troy, is there anything you want to add to that particular topic?
No, I mean, everything that she just said at, it's such a common call.
And maybe that's it's, you know, again, the general public probably doesn't hear about
every time, but that's a call that I get dispatched to weekly, you know, in certain areas more
than most, especially in the area that this accident happened.
My battalion was very, very common.
Not so much in the neighborhood, like Ali said, but I can't tell you how many ATV and
motorcycle accidents.
The helmets are key.
You know, the brain, like we, there's so much we don't know about it, but we do know that
with a helmet, you're going to fare better than without.
But it's an extremely common accident that unless you're doing this and responding to
those types of calls, you probably don't know about as much.
It's that common.
Absolutely.
We'll stay in on you, Troy.
If people want to reach out to you online, where are the best places?
Oh, like they can.
My Facebook is kind of closed.
I keep that private.
They won't know who I am.
They can friend request me if they want.
They just look me up.
But best way I can give you my email address, my personal email, which is very easy.
It's Troy Deschard, just as it's spelled at outlook.com.
That's my personal email and just let me know if you have any questions.
That's the easiest way to get in touch with me.
Brilliant.
All right, Ali, yourself and then the book.
Where can people find those?
Both kind of in the same place.
She started an Instagram page is probably the best way and it's Layla's underscore TBI
underscore journey.
You can also see a lot of pictures of the stuff we're describing on there.
And then there is a link for the book on there as well.
And the email wanted to email me that's on there at the top.
Excellent.
And then Layla, we found out where we can reach out to you on Instagram.
How can people get you Chick-fil-A, Bolle or Starbucks vouchers and Venmo?
I told you I'd put it in.
Let me think about that.
What?
I mean, you probably have to.
I don't want to release my number.
But they can message you on the Instagram.
Yeah, if someone wanted to send something to you.
The Instagram, the little TBI one, not my main one.
Send that to me on there or that's a good don't have an email to that whole thing.
Yeah, to the account.
You can use my email.
It's on the Instagram.
It's Layla's.
It's on the link in the bio, isn't it?
Yeah.
Like in description.
There we go.
I would love Starbucks, Bolle, Chick-fil-A's egg because I'm not as obsessed anymore.
But Starbucks and Bolle, I will love you forever.
I'm actually going to Starbucks after this.
There we go.
You got to get a fresh kitchen though.
Like I said, I know there's one in Davie.
So if you're further south, you got to hit that up.
I'm still in there, so I'll have to check it out.
We have to go there.
It's as good as Bolle.
It's better.
I'm trusting you.
Yeah, let me know.
All right.
Well, I just want to say thank you so much.
It's been an incredible conversation to kind of hear just obviously some short elements
about where you guys were before this happened and your journey into certain professions
and then the impact of this on all of you.
And then the professionalism from the EMS and hospital side.
And obviously, as you said, the caretaking elements, the sibling elements, and then Layla's
strength and courage and journey that she's been through.
So I want to thank you all so much for being so generous with your time and coming on the
Behind the Shield podcast today.
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.