塔图姆受伤的小女儿被直升机送往医院, a rainbow arced from the Clearwater Beach, Florida, 海岸线指引着她，也给了蒂根的母亲希望的理由.

Teagan, then 4, 去年秋天，她和爸爸在近岸内河航道附近骑水上摩托车时，撞上了一艘34英尺长的船. 这次撞击震动了蒂根的大脑，通常会导致肿胀，甚至死亡. A police officer raced Tatum to St. 去佛罗里达州彼得堡看望她的女儿. The rainbow was all she could focus on.

塔图姆哭着说:“开车好像有一百万英里。. “我恳求上帝和宇宙用力量和生命吞没蒂根."

Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios

直升机降落时，蒂根处于昏迷状态. The pediatric trauma team at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital went to work, 但头部有严重的闭合性伤口被称为弥漫性轴索损伤, the outcome was uncertain.

“这不是对头部的打击，”神经外科医生说 George Jallo, medical director of the hospital's Institute for Brain Protection Sciences. “当大脑在颅骨中来回移动时，会破坏神经细胞和组织. 它会导致肿胀，是脑损伤导致死亡的主要原因之一.”

塔图姆在事故中失去了丈夫，现在哈洛在描述蒂根岌岌可危的状况. 如果她还活着，她可能有认知和/或身体残疾. She might be in a vegetative state. A full recovery was far from certain.

“Dr. Jallo没有给我们粉饰任何事情，并和我分享了蒂根康复的最好和最坏的情况,” Tatum recalls, looking down as she relived the moment.

Tatum's sister, 另一家医院的急救中心和重症监护护士, 听到蒂根的诊断结果，她跪倒在地.

Healing Teagan

外科医生在蒂根的颅骨内插入了一个颅内压装置，以监测她大脑72小时内的肿胀情况. 塔图姆只能握住她的小手，低声祈祷.

这是她经历过的最长的72小时.

Jallo要求姑息治疗小组作为家属和医务人员之间的联络人. Child Life Services helped extended family, including Teagan's cousins, understand and cope with her condition.

Along with her traumatic brain injury, 蒂根手臂多处骨折, elbow, shoulder and skull. 她全身都有需要缝针的伤口. “在插管的关键日子里，看到她的头和小小的身体肿胀，真是太可怕了, lines, bandages and devices everywhere,” her mother recalls with a shiver.

Slowly, Teagan recovered. Her smile came back. Her physical and cognitive skills returned. 她继续参加物理，职业，语言和语言治疗 Johns Hopkins All Children's Outpatient Care但现在她5岁了，她像其他同龄女孩一样跳舞、唱歌和骑摩托车.

“她不得不重新学习生命的所有主要功能，”塔图姆说. “她从一个词的耳语变成了完整的句子，现在能够表达她的每一个需求.

“Today, Teagan is walking, running, talking, dancing, singing, eating, learning and loving life again. 她不再是那个孩子了，但这是受伤的一部分，我已经接受了这一点.”

Inspired to Action

Grateful for the care her daughter received, 塔图姆是约翰霍普金斯儿童医院及其扩展项目的倡导者, especially the brain institute.

“当我看着蒂根成长为一个非凡的人, 我希望每一位父母都能接触到脑损伤的研究和信息，以便为自己的孩子做出最好的决定,” she explains. “我希望约翰霍普金斯儿童医院能够提供一流的儿科住院康复治疗，重点是脑损伤.”

随着蒂根的每一步进步，塔图姆在帮助改善脑损伤护理方面迈出了一大步.