Parents of injured youth group teen hold on to hope

LAKELAND, Fla. - When Curt and Suzanne Johnson entered the small room inside Lakeland Regional Medical Center, it was difficult to imagine what their world has been like for the past 72 hours.

But with their daughter Sierra in extremely critical condition and connected to life support equipment, Mom reflected on her little girl.
 
"All she ever wanted in her life was to bring people to God, and have them pray.  So that's all I want for her is just that the community and the world just pray for her.  Because I believe in miracles.  So, Sierra would appreciate that," Suzanne said through tear-filled eyes.    

The Johnson's say the swelling on Sierra's brain is so severe that doctors can't surgically insert a stent to reduce the swelling. For now, they must rely on medication.

Sierra and six others from the Journey Assembly of God church were on their way to Rock the Universe, a Christian rock event at Universal in Orlando when a tire blew, and After rollover crashthe car crashed Saturday afternoon.

"Watching her go through these things, today we can say that she's doing a little bit better.  She's constantly fighting for her life," Suzanne explained.

Curt Johnson has always managed to right situations when begin to fall apart.  But this is different.

"The biggest thing is not knowing.  I am a fixer and I need to fix this.  I can't fix my daughter. But I can help fix the people around us and encourage them; and that's how I'm dealing with it," Curt said.

Sierra's upbeat and can-do attitude, her parents say, and their faith is what keeps them believing in a positive outcome.

"I believe in miracles and I definitely believe in a miracle for my daughter.  I want nothing less for her because she was such an inspiration.  And anyone that knew her would be willing to tell you that; that she was an inspiration," Suzanne recalled.

Curt was a bit more straight to the point.

"We were told there's not a whole lot of hope.  But I believe there is hope.  There's hope as long as we believe there's hope; and that's what we're holding on to," he said.

Suzanne and Curt Johnson say that there's really only one thing that people can do for Sierra, and for their family, and that's pray.