Five years after brain injury, San Jose family navigates a life they never imagined

SAN JOSE -- As Jessica Huse struggled to hold her head up, her mother brushed back her hair and gently kissed her on the forehead.

"Life happens," Lisa Huse said quietly as she straightened Jessica's neck more comfortably into a brace attached to her wheelchair

And life goes on, even when it's not the one you had envisioned.

On Aug. 2, 2009, then 18-year-old Jessica, just a couple weeks away from going off to college, was broadsided on Blossom Hill Road while driving to Sunday morning church services. The recent Valley Christian graduate suffered a traumatic brain injury and wasn't expected to survive.

A bulletin board with the family motto, "Whatever It Takes" is kept near Jessica Huse, 23, for inspiration at the family home in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. Jessica suffered a traumatic brain injury that has confined her to a wheelchair following a car accident in August of 2009. The family is preparing for a charity run this weekend that will raise money for Jessica's ongoing medical care which costs around $150,000 a year. (Photo by Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group) ( Gary Reyes )

But she did. When doctors predicted that she would live the rest of her life in a permanent vegetative state, she surprised them again by later emerging back into consciousness and now, at 23, she can answer yes-no questions by pushing oversized button devices.

"I ask her, 'Are you happy? Are you having a good day?' Lisa said. "And she will answer 'Yes.' So I always try to stay positive. I don't want to plant any negative thoughts."

Saturday morning is supposed to be about positive thoughts at the fifth annual Emerge 5K run/walk, sponsored by Journey for Jessica and the International Brain Research Foundation. In addition to raising money for Jessica's ongoing therapy, the goal of the fundraiser at Almaden Lake Park is to bring public awareness about the difficulty of providing care for TBI patients.

"It's very slow, but Jessica already is doing a zillion times better than anyone expected," Lisa said. "They initially told us that there was nothing there. But if you do nothing to help brain injury patients, you will get nothing."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 2.5 million emergency room visits, hospitalizations or deaths were associated with TBI in 2010, the most recent year where data is available. That brain trauma can range from mild concussions to the kind of severe injury that Jessica suffered.

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Five years after brain injury, San Jose family navigates a life they never imagined