SALT LAKE CITY — Erin Plumb's family has been at the University of Utah Hospital with her since her accident on Easter Sunday.
Her family says she still has a long road to recovery, but she's got a lot of people rallying behind her in Tooele County.
Tooele City Police said the 20-year-old suffered "significant" injuries after falling out of a moving pickup truck while sitting on the tailgate.
Heather Plumb, Erin's mother, said the family had just gotten back from the canyons, and as they were dropping things off just two doors down at a neighbor's house, Erin wanted to ride on the tailgate back home.
Heather said it was a freak accident. Erin fell out of the truck and is now in a coma, and she is fighting as her injuries are being treated.
“Now she’s missing both her right and her left top of her skull so that ... the swelling can have someplace to go. They were able to get reactivity back. She is now responding to some pain stimulus, which is exactly what they want to do. All of the numbers they’ve told her that she needed to reach, she has,” Heather said.
She says they couldn't get through this without the support of the Tooele communities.
Heather said Erin's favorite color is purple, and so her neighbors have been lighting up their front porches with purple lights as a show of support.
Also, a friend of the family set up a GoFundMe to help the Plumb family with medical expenses.
The family says they want everyone to know that Erin is a fighter.
