ATLANTA — On Sept. 21, 2017, Taylor Hammersley, who was 20 years old at the time, was in a car crash in Alabama.
“I had a stroke and a traumatic brain injury. I crushed my pelvis," she recalled. "It knocked me out. I was unresponsive."
On Sept. 23, 2017, Prater Christiansen, who was 16 years old at the time, got in a car accident in Tennessee.
"I had a fractured skull. I was airlifted and in a coma for roughly 10 days," he said. "When you go 16 years without having a big injury like that and then you get in that bed and try to move your feet or your arm and you can't do it but you're trying to, it's scary."
Two days apart and in two different states, Taylor and Prater didn't know each other -- but that would soon change.
It was a life changing day for both of them, but not for the reason you'd think. It was life changing because their respective accidents brought them to the Shepherd Center and to each other.
"I remember like it was yesterday," Taylor said. "There wasn't that many people our age. I asked my dad to wheel me over there. I introduced myself. He was quiet."
As their website describes, the Shepherd Center is "a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, and other neuromuscular conditions."
"To have somebody that is right there, like were the same person, it's God gifted. It really is," Prater said.
Both stayed in their inpatient center, attending therapy daily.
During group therapy, which happens at least once a week, they both happened to be in the same room. Taylor's speech language therapist, Melissa Kast, said that wasn't always purely coincidence.
"She would ask me pretty regularly, 'Can I be in the group with Prater, please?' It was pretty much the first time they saw each other they were kind of like drawn together," Melissa said.
For two months at the center, they bonded over their hardships.
"It was so easy finding someone I could compare my stuff to. If I was having a bad day, we would comfort each other," Taylor recalled.
With that bonding came a unique connection.
“I didn't think anybody would see me as attractive when half my hair is shaved, and I look like a crazy patient," Prater said while laughing. "But we felt the exact same way about both of each other.”
Taylor got transferred to Shepherd Pathways, an outpatient rehabilitation program, in Nov. 2017. Prater arrived shortly after, in December.
"I got to pathway before he did and I was patiently waiting every day. I was like, 'When’s Prater gonna come?'" Taylor remembered.
In January 2018, Taylor went back to Alabama and Prater to Tennessee. Prater was trying to focus on finishing High School, but he had Taylor on his mind.
"I had love for her because we've been through so much together," he said. "I didn't know it was going to get as big as it is now, but that was the hope."
He added Taylor on Instagram and Snapchat, and they spoke almost every day. A year went by, and then another.
"It was November 8, 2020. I sent a random picture of me on snapchat and he asked me for my number," Taylor said. "From that day until March 16, we Facetimed every day. We got to the point we were Facetiming 21 hours a day."
On March 16, 2021, Prater moved to be with Taylor. Shortly after asking for her family's blessing, he proposed.
"I couldn't wait when that ring came in. We were sitting on the front porch and I was talking to her, and we just started bawling. Tears came out of nowhere. I told her I couldn't wait no more," Prater said.
Three weeks ago, they welcomed a baby boy who they named Hudson Blaine. He went home in a Georgia outfit.
“I’m very blessed to have both of them. He was my motivation," said Taylor.
Now, Prater is working to maintain his family. He said working after a brain injury comes with its challenges.
"People will see what's going on in the outside and they'll think you're fine but it's a struggle every day going to work," he said. "It kills me, but I wouldn't trade it for the world because I'm going to take care of my family."
They credit the Shepherd Center for their recovery.
“Adjusting to life after a brain injury – which is a process – they were able to support each other through, which is really great," Melissa said. "None of us as staff have ever probably been through some of the things they have been through or at least in the same way and for them to be able to talk to a peer in that same level is amazing they had that opportunity."
They both also credit the center for helping them find more than just a silver lining during the worst of times.
“I am so grateful and thankful to have been put in such a bad position," Prater added. "If it wasn't for me having to learn everything all over again -- look at this perfect little boy right here. It's all perfect."
Those two crashes brought together one love story.
"To be able to watch our patients make the leap from having such a severe brain injury to be able to go back to the world and live life – and to have a relationship and now to have a baby! Its such a great and amazing thing," Melissa said. "It's so encouraging as a therapist to get to see what happens afterwards."
