Meet Sierra

On a summer day in 2020, Sierra Longmoore was in a life-altering car accident.

The 17-year-old sustained a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), skull fractures, collapsed lungs, and a stroke. She was air-lifted to the hospital, where she was not expected to survive the night. Sierra made it through, but she remained in a coma for five weeks.

Sierra came to Spaulding Rehabilitation in Boston in a minimally conscious state and with no left side movement. After her TBI, she needed to relearn everyday abilities, like how to speak, eat, and walk again. Her determined, compassionate team at Spaulding was ready to help.

While at Spaulding, Sierra had surgery scheduled to replace a portion of her skull — but it was postponed for medical reasons, a difficult moment for her entire family. The next day, Sierra’s undaunted physical therapist said, “Today is the day you’re going to walk.”

Her mother, Amy, was unsure. But Sierra took six steps — and Amy thought, “She can do this.”

Sierra made great strides in her recovery--and now helps others in their own journeys

Sierra rehabilitated at Spaulding for two months. It was a three-hour drive from where her family — mom, dad, Sierra’s twin, and three other siblings — lived in Vermont. Donor-funded housing offered through Spaulding’s Supportive Surroundings program enabled her family to stay close and her siblings to visit around their school schedule.

“This sense of worrying about, ‘How will we make this work for our family?’ was taken care of,” says Amy. Her family learned the depth and breadth of resources that patients and families need when going through such life-changing events, and what it means to have support throughout the process.

They also received deep comfort from Spaulding’s nursing staff. “The nurses connected not only with the patients, but with the families,” says Amy. “They made us feel like we were in it together.”

“When someone you love experiences a brain injury, you need to learn a lot fast,” says Amy. “The staff was great about talking through medications, and processes, and they also listened to what we had to say. It was a real two-way dialogue.”

When Sierra couldn’t communicate verbally due to her tracheotomy, she turned to art. “You could see the happiness it brought to her,” says Amy. Producing art also aided in Sierra’s healing process, something her family now works to bring to other TBI survivors — among many other resources — through their organization, Unmask the Invisible. 

During her time at Spaulding, Sierra went from being unable to track movement with her eyes to successfully reading out loud. Her first words to her family were, “I love you.” Two months after arriving in a minimally conscious state, Sierra walked out of Spaulding on the day of her discharge.

The teen went on to graduate high school, even attending her senior prom and returning to her varsity softball team. Sierra now drives and works a part-time job in addition to working with Unmask the Invisible, providing education, resources, and support for other TBI survivors and their families. Sierra and Amy cowrote a book in December 2023, also called Unmask the Invisible, which gave birth to their organization.

"After what I experienced, I realized it was up to me to choose how to continue my story,” says Sierra. “Was I going to give up and play victim? Or give thanks and go for it? I knew I had been given another chance in life. I hope to pay forward all the opportunities and support I have been given."