NEWBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – If you’ve been through Newbury, Bradford, even down to Fairlee in the past 10 months, you may have seen signs that say ‘Sierra Strong’.

The community has rallied around the Bradford teenager following a devastating car crash – and now they thank them.

July 8, 2020 is a day that will always live on in the minds of the Longmoore family.

Sierra Longmoore was driving through Newbury that morning when she was involved in a fatal single vehicle crash.

“We were probably told for the first two weeks that she wasn’t going to survive,” says her mother, Amy.

The Bradford teenager was airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center with traumatic brain injury, among countless other injuries.

A grim prognosis became a little clearer after a while, her parents say miraculously. After weeks in a medically induced coma, Sierra has arrived. She was alive, but in a vegetative state.

“We’ve been through the survival phase, but if there was a recovery she might only be able to brush her teeth. This is what we were told. So it was a really bad nightmare, ”says Amy Langmoore.

She was sent to Boston for rehab. On August 24, her family saw another miracle.

“She said her first words to us, which were ‘I love you’,” recalls Amy.

Now close to full recovery, 18-year-old Sierra is preparing to graduate from Oxbow High School.

“It’s different at first, but over time I get more involved,” says Sierra.

She’s getting ready for prom and playing on the varsity softball team.

“It’s pretty amazing because I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t have these people who were part of my journey. And I want to thank each of them for everything they have done for me, ”says Sierra.

This week, Sierra thanked the 23 first responders and spectators who helped her that morning at a reception hosted by her family.

Jennifer Dube was one of the first people on stage. She was driving her son to work when she saw the car in the trees.

“As two other people tried to call 911 I stood in front of the car with my hands in the window and kept telling her ‘your family is coming, you are so strong, I am so proud. of you. I had no idea who she was but I’m human and you want that person not to be alone was the most important thing, ”Dube says.

Alone, she was not. With the support of her family and the 23 people who have helped her, Sierra is now looking forward to going to college in the fall.

“I tried to see everything that was positive because the reality is we could have lost her and thank God for not doing it,” Amy says.

Copyright 2021 WCAX. All rights reserved.