Yet today, Collin is defying every expectation. He is walking, talking, climbing stairs, and recalling new information — things that, on paper, should have been impossible. His mother, Amy Long, principal of South Smiths Station Elementary, has been at his side through every moment, carrying both the exhaustion and the hope of this fight.

“In just seven days at Brooks Rehabilitation, Collin has put on weight, his strength is returning, and every doctor says the same thing—on paper, he shouldn’t be alive. But God,” Amy wrote.

The progress is steady and miraculous. His tracheotomy has been removed and is healing, his vision remains better than 20/20, and even the weakness in his face is slowly improving. Still, Collin struggles with discouragement, missing his friends, his independence, and the life he had before the accident. “He’s 20 years old, but he’s still my son,” Amy said. “I’ll do whatever I can to help him get there.”

Behind her strength is sacrifice. Amy sleeps each night on a small sofa bed just feet from Collin, aching for her younger son Evan back home in Auburn. “For fourteen years it has been Collin, Evan, and me—three points of a triangle. When one point is missing, none of us are whole.”

Her faith sustains her. “On paper doesn’t matter,” she wrote. “God isn’t scared of your hurt, your pain, or your brokenness. He can work a miracle in it. He already loves you.”

Collin’s journey is far from over, but every step forward proves that miracles don’t just happen in storybooks — they happen in hospital rooms, too.