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Former Sleepy Eye student receives awards

DODGE CENTER — A former Sleepy Eye High School student who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a 1999 vehicle crash recently received awards for her weekly newspaper column about living with TBI.

Emily Steffens, 37, received the Special Recognition Award from the Minnesota State Patrol Towards Zero Deaths program in Mankato Oct. 23. In addition, she received a Minnesota Newspaper Association award for her weekly column in the Dodge Center Star Herald.

Steffens column features her feelings about life after the crash and how writing the column gives her life more meaning, that she still has a lot to offer.

Steffens was not wearing a seat belt in the back seat of a vehicle the summer after high school graduation when the car she was riding in collided with a recreational vehicle that pulled out in front of the car.

Hospitalized in intensive care and in a coma for two months, Steffens awoke and tackled months of therapy but still deals with lingering issues like paralysis on her right side.

Her father, Larry Dobson, former Sleepy Eye Herald Dispatch publisher, now publisher of the Star Herald and Byron Review, urged Emily to start writing the column a couple years ago as a way to deal with her challenges.

In addition, Steffens stresses the importance of using seat belts and how she survived the crash and injury by faith in Jesus.

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