Jogger Hit by Car Continues to Recover

ATLANTA - Sarah Halperin has no memory of being struck by a car last September, or the six months that followed. Halperin was out for an early morning run, with no ID when she was hit near the intersection of Clairmont and North Decatur Roads.

For two days, Halperin was in a coma and no one knew who she was, or where to find her family. Now, Halperin is back in Atlanta, thanking the people who helped her.

Halperin's head injury was so severe she was airlifted by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center, even though it was only five miles away.

Within an hour, she was in the operating room, for her first of six surgeries.

This week, Halperin flew back to Atlanta to meet the medical staffers who treated her and try to fill in the blanks of the months she can't remember.

Halperin knows critical care nurse Vivian Abel and her coworkers at Atlanta Medical Center helped save her life.

"I don't remember any of that. And I know it happened, obviously. But it's good to see this place and not really meet the people, but to me it's meeting the people," said Halperin.

Documented on home video, the 24-year-old has spent the last 11 months trying to rebuild her life after a devastating brain injury.

On September 23, 2009, fresh out of Emory, Halperin had just started grad school at UGA when she went out for a pre-dawn run, with an iPod, but no ID. During that run, Halperin was struck by a car.

Halperin was airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center, unconscious and with severe head trauma. The grad student was all alone and listed as Jane Doe.

"I remember her being here, and me thinking, the day she came in, who does she belong to?" recalled Abel.

Hours, turned into days.

Halperin's mom, Candace Kallor, was in New York, unaware of what happened.

"I hadn't heard from her in a few days, but I hadn't started to worry yet," said Kallor.

"I'm wondering how long does it take for someone to realize she was gone? Will it take a day? Does she have a roommate, does she have a boyfriend?" said Abel.

It took 30 hours, but Abel and a hospital social worker traced the serial number on Halperin's iPod, and tracked down her family.

"If she hadn't done that, who knows how long it would have taken to find my mom, so that's, like, extremely heroic," said Halperin.

Halperin said she doesn't remember her accident, or her month at the hospital or the three months she spent at Shepherd Center and for her, the trip to Atlanta is about coming back and filling in those gaps in the last year of her life.

"She's asked the questions so many times about what happened during that blank period with that big memory gap," said Kallor.

"And of course, I wanted to come because I'm told these stories, but I'm like, I don't remember any of that," said Halperin.

The staff at Shepherd Center's Acquired Brain Injury unit had no trouble remembering Halperin.

"When she got here, and I saw this little petite girl and her mom, you couldn't help but to love them from the beginning," said Brandi Bradford, Halperin's case worker.

Bradford said that when she arrived, Halperin was still fragile and unable to speak, or interact with the world around her.

"Every day we just cried, because we didn't know. She was that medically-complicated, you just didn't know," said Bradford.

Halperin has endured six brain surgeries since her accident, and daily therapy to relearn basic skills like talking and using her hands.

"There were a lot of days when it just felt like despair, that she was not going to get better, she had a lot of setbacks," said Kallor.

"Even for someone her age and very healthy before, she was severely injured. So I was really, really worried about, her progress and her prognosis," said Bradford.

Maybe it was her will, maybe it was luck or maybe both, but Halperin has defied everyone's expectations.

In April, seven months after accident, Halperin went for her first run around a track.

More than anything, Halperin said she wishes she could've been spared this whole ordeal.

"But on the other hand, having this accident, I could be much worse now. So, I'm really thankful for getting as much better as I have, and I'm still improving," said Halperin.

With this trip back to Atlanta, Halperin is realizing just how far she's come.

"Every day, I say it's a miracle. And I don't think I believed in miracles before," said Halperin.

Halperin will return to Bethesda, Maryland Sunday. That's where she's continuing her recovery at a rehabilitation hospital.

Halperin said she hopes to return to grad school next year, and eventually come back to UGA. Halperin would like to one day work as a child therapist.