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Woman injured in airplane crash is making a remarkable recovery

A young woman who was seriously injured from a plane crash is making a slow but steady in her recovery.

Posted Updated

By
Gilbert Baez
, WRAL Fayetteville reporter
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Dominique Northcutt's recovery can only be described as a miracle. In February, she and three others were involved in a plane crash at the Gray's Creek Airport in Cumberland County.

“A lot of my associates did ask me like, 'What do you remember? Do you remember anything?'” said Northcutt. ”To be honest, I just went AHH and then it just went boom!”

Northcutt suffered a traumatic brain injury. After countless surgeries and physical therapy, she returned home in July on a gurney unable to speak or move. But that slowly started to change.

Jerolyn Northcutt, Dominique Northcutt’s mother and caretaker, witnessed her daughter’s gradual recovery.

“She took her right hand and picked the ball up and threw it back to Maliha,” said Jerolyn Northcutt.

But the miracle didn't stop there. The next day she wrote a note saying she was thirsty, and then she spoke. Her mother will never forget her first words: "I want cheeseburger and fries from McDonalds."

"And I said, 'Oh my God! She’s talking!'” Jerolyn Northcutt told WRAL News.

She has not stopped talking about food since.

“Some soul food. Oh my God! You’re going to make me hungry. Some fried chicken with collard greens and yams and cornbread. Oh my God, you’re making me hungry!” Dominique exclaimed.

Her mother plans to take care of all of that on Thanksgiving. But right now, the focus is on getting physical therapy that is financially out of reach.

“Her neck, her spine, her right arm, her left side doesn’t move, and her toes are curved in. We are asking for help to get her to a rehabilitation facility," Jerolyn Northcutt said.

Dominque Northcutt’s family has created a GoFundMe in hopes of raising money for her continued recovery.

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