Katie's Road to Recovery

My name is Kellie Proctor, and I'm speaking on behalf of my little sister Katie Proctor while she is unable to do so for herself. Katie is the fiancé of Todd Carlson, the mother to Adam Moomey and the sister to Jennifer Proctor and I. Some of you may know us through my Mother Karen Malone or my late father Officer Rick Proctor. Her nephews are John Proctor, Brian Proctor, and Jake Mausolf.

Katie set off last week with Todd and her friends to enjoy a weekend before starting her Masters Program at Chamberlain for Teaching, to enjoy riding their motorcycles in Tennessee. They loaded their bikes up on the trailer and headed down, Katie was determined to ride her own motorcycle again to "slay" the Tail of the Dragon. All of our plans changed when Katie lost control of her bike from a slick spot in the road before even making it to the beginning of the tail. We think that she may have over corrected while trying to manage the turn on her bike. Katie was ejected from the bike as it rolled multiple times leaving her unresponsive at the side of the mountain.

Luckily for Katie, the Jeep Invasion was taking place and a group of Jeepers, who happened to be first responders, were only about two minutes behind them when she crashed. They quickly assessed her need for an airway and managed her injuries while they waited about 25 minutes for an ambulance and 45 minutes for her to be taken by Life Flight to The University of Tennessee Medical Center to be evaluated. They quite literally saved her life that day and they were not intending to even be on that road at that time, a wrong turn for them brought them to Katie.

Katie has a C1 spine fracture that should not need an operation at this time, a small brain bleed that has been stable since her admission to the Trauma Surgery Intensive Care Unit, a traumatic brain injury that is effecting her ability to follow commands, orient herself to place and time (at times), and we think this might be responsible for very minimal movement of her right extremities. Her right hand has little movement or strength and her right leg is also weak. Katie is being fed by a tube that goes through her nose into her stomach and needs to be re-oriented when she wakes up after being asleep for any amount of time. She suffered from one laceration above her eye and some in her mouth that needed to be sutured. She also has some abrasions over her face and chest that are actually healing quite well, although I'm sure they are itchy and tight feeling for her as they heal. Katie was on a ventilator (breathing machine) and multiple drips (medications) through an IV to help her when she arrived to the hospital. She was removed from the vent after three days of respiratory support. She is currently off oxygen support, drips, and IVs and on the Medical Surgical unit awaiting transfer out.

Her recovery is going to be slow and will depend on how her brain heals and the type of care that she receives while is trying to get stronger. While we are very uncertain about a lot of aspects of her road to recovery, we do know that the support that we have had from family, friends, medical personnel, and even complete strangers has been so immensely impactful to us that we can never begin to thank each of you enough.

At this time, we are hoping to drive Katie back to Michigan once she is accepted to a Neurological/Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI) rehabilitation facility. We have been fortunate in being able to secure affordable accommodations and offered a place to stay if we need to stay past Friday this week so far... however an ambulance transfer will cost about $5,000 if it is medically necessary for her to travel by ambulance. *This is seeming more unlikely, but we don't know at this time for sure*

I am only making this page at the request of our friends and family, coworkers and community who have asked to help with our costs. Although we have been able to manage things to this point, we are unsure of what the next days, weeks, and undoubtably months, will have in store for Katie, and subsequently those of us who are caring for her. We are so thankful for your desire to help and will ensure that, if Katie doesn't need these funds for direct costs related to her care and costs of her recovery, we will find an appropriate way to allocate the funds to a fundraiser or cause that is equally important.

Thank you to those of you who have thought of us already, and we know that the prayers that have gone up in Katie's name have been the true deciding factor in her survival of this accident and the path to recovery that she is on. We will do our best to keep everyone updated as we get information and as Katie progresses during this journey.

From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!