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Pediatric Trauma Patient, Doctor Meet After 26 Years

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- After 26 years, a woman who survived a traumatic brain injury had the chance to meet the doctor who saved her life Wednesday morning, announced the Hennepin County Medical Center.

When she was 22 months old, Nikki Stanley Mauland suffered the head injury when a 300-pound school cafeteria table collapsed on her. Luckily, Johnson Memorial Hospital caregivers in Dawson, Minn. called HCMC in Minneapolis because she needed advanced trauma care.

Dr. David Plummer, chief emergency medicine resident at the time, remembers flying on a fixed-wing plane to Dawson despite icy conditions.

When he arrived at Johnson Memorial Hospital, Nikki was still unconscious. She was intubated and received medication to reduce the intracranial pressure from her head injury.

Unfortunately, she went into cardiac arrest and soon she didn't have a pulse. Fortunately, Plummer performed CPR and her heart started again.

After Plummer and Nikki arrived at HCMC and his role was essentially over, Plummer walked away and wept.

"I knew I'd never forget it," he said. "I hadn't been conscious of any nervousness while taking care of this child, but somewhere in the back of my mind I was aware that this was one of those cases that I'd never forget."

Mauland and Plummer met at 10 a.m.

Mauland, 27, is a registered nurse and was married in May of this year.

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