Holly Renae Proffitt was born in Johnson City, Tennessee on October 03, 1979. 
We will remember and love her forever. Holly thoroughly enjoyed life and being with family and friends. She loved playing basketball and had just completed her junior year of varsity basketball at Daniel Boone High School.

 March 11, 1996 started off as any normal school day. Holly had completed drivers education at school and had been driving for about 4 months, and was a good driver, just an inexperienced one. That was the last time any of us would see her as we had grown to know her. I received a phone call at work informing me of Holly's accident, and was told it was very serious and that she was being air lifted to the hospital. I raced to the emergency room while my fellow workers called other family members, I was met at the emergency room door by the hospital Chaplain. I will never forget the feeling I had when I saw him as I immediately assumed Holly had already died. I was later told that she was still alive, but not expected to live through the night. I was allowed, along with my Mother, to stay in the PICU with her overnight since the situation was so grave. Except for the trauma to her head, the only outward indication she had been in an accident were a few scratches on her left hand. 

Against all odds, Holly pulled through the night, although the pressure from swelling in her brain continued to rise. The next morning the Neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert Hines, told me that he expected Holly would pass away over the next 72 hours. I can't remember much about those hours except just being there with Holly, talking to her, and encouraging her to live. Her brain pressure rose alarmingly high many times. 

Once again, Holly fought and battled through the next 72 hours. She endured many surgeries over the next two weeks; facial reconstruction, shunt placement to drain fluid from her ventricles, a gastric feeding tube placed in her stomach, and a dura repair to the lining of the brain because spinal fluid was leaking from her sinuses. She overcame one setback after another. I thank God that she was in a coma during all these procedures and did not suffer the intense pain she would have if she were conscious. 

Holly stayed in a coma for over four months. So many times I prayed that she would just wake up. She gradually did, but we all soon realized we no longer had the Holly we were all used to. We now had a very special Holly to care for. My heart ached for her, as she was once a vivacious, energetic, athletic young lady and she could now not control most of her body functions, yet I was overjoyed that I still had her with me. 

Holly started rehab as an in-patient while still in the hospital, and finally came home for the first time on September 6, 1996. It was a transition for us all, learning to care for her special needs, accommodating handicap equipment into our home, and organizing in-home care, therapies, and doctor visits around our work schedules. We had to continue to work to provide for the entire family. 

For the next 6 1/2 years Holly remained in physical, speech, and occupational therapies. She was hospitalized many more times, mostly to control seizures she had developed as a result of the brain trauma. Her Neurologist had finally found a mixture of anti-convulsants that seemed to be working, although with many ill side effects. 

Holly started attending the Crumley House Head Injury Rehab program in 2001, and was making so much progress in her life. She had made a very special friend there, Alton Gernt. We finally let her have her own apartment there on October 1, 2002, something she had wanted so badly. I was reluctant to let her leave our daily care, but I am so glad I did....she was so happy! For some unknown reason Holly had very severe seizures on the night of October 12, 2002 while visiting with her Grandmother. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened in her day. She was hospitalized again, where this time she was not able to battle through it. She experienced multi-organ failure, DIC, and ultimately died from hypotensive shock, all brought about by the massive seizures. She never regained consciousness after the seizures, and slipped away to heaven quietly with her family by her side.