Tooele family calls daughter's survival a 'week of miracles' after devastating Easter fall


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KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • A Tooele family calls their daughter's survival a "week of miracles" after a fall.
  • Erin Plumb, 20, was critically injured Easter Sunday; doctors gave her slim chances of surviving a traumatic fall.
  • Community support grows as neighbors light homes in purple, her favorite color, as a sign of solidarity with the family.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Tooele family said this week has been nothing short of miraculous after doctors gave their 20‑year‑old daughter less than a 2% chance of surviving a traumatic fall on Easter Sunday.

Erin Plumb was sitting on the tailgate of her family's truck when she somehow fell as they were backing out of a neighbor's driveway. The impact left her with a severe head injury, and she was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Now, her family is holding on to hope — and to what they describe as a series of miracles.

"Just total disbelief, just shock — this cannot be real," said her mother, Heather Plumb. "It's impossible to explain the horror."

Erin Plumb is now in a medically induced coma. Doctors told the family she likely wouldn't survive the first night. But Erin Plumb, they said, has always been a fighter.

"Everybody loves her. She is genuinely just the sweetest, most caring, empathetic person I know," Heather Plumb said. "She's spicy, she's spunky, she loves hockey."

She's also tough — a black belt in Taekwondo — and her family believes that grit is helping her battle through the most difficult challenge of her life.

In just four days, she has undergone multiple surgeries, including two procedures to remove parts of her skull to relieve swelling. Through it all, the Plumb family said they've felt the strength of prayers from friends, neighbors, and even strangers.

They've counted three miracles so far.

"Our first one was that she made it to the hospital alive," her mother said. "The second was she made it through surgery. The third was she made it through the night."

Now, the community is stepping in to show support. Neighbors have begun lighting their homes in purple — her favorite color — as a sign of solidarity with the family.

"It's really been the most difficult thing I've ever had to do," Heather Plumb said.

Erin Plumb is a devoted hockey fan, and her family said that if she wasn't in the hospital, she would have been downtown this week cheering on the Mammoth. They're holding on to the hope that next season, she'll be back in the stands — loud, spunky, and cheering once again.

The family has set up a GoFundMe here.


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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Debbie Worthen, KSLDebbie Worthen
Debbie Worthen brings nearly two decades of award-winning journalism experience to the KSL Newsroom and is thrilled be working for Utah’s legacy news organization. She anchors KSL 5 News at 4 and Live at 5 with Mike Headrick and reports for KSL 5 News at 10pm. There are countless things Debbie enjoys about working in local news, but storytelling is at the top of the list. Whether it’s meeting the remarkable people of Utah as they do amazing things, informing viewers of critical breaking news and issues that impact their communities or reporting on daily assignments like weather and traffic, Debbie is honored to be the one trusted to tell Utahn’s stories. She believes journalistic integrity and a commitment to accuracy have never been more important than they are now. Debbie started her career as a writer, producer and traffic reporter while finishing her communications degree at The University of Utah before making the jump to a full-time on-air position. (Although you could say she caught the news “bug” at KOLT-News at Cottonwood High School.) After several moves across the country, Debbie and her husband, Brandon Gilbert, moved to Utah to start their family. They love everything Utah has to offer and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Outside the office, Debbie and her family are advocates for at-risk youth and have fostered several children through Utah Foster Care. As a family they enjoy movie nights in the basement, trying new recipes and, a few times a year, traveling to exotic locations!

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