The Augusta Chronicle reports that injuries from a car accident led to a tracheotomy and scar tissue that took over Nicole Reed's windpipe.
Four years later, she received a series of surgeries at Medical College of Georgia Hospital and Clinics. The procedures rebuilt Reed's trachea, removed the scar tissue and reversed the tracheotomy, allowing her to speak again.
The 27-year-old was in a coma for more than a month and couldn't breathe on her own following the 2008 crash.
Doctors said they took rib cartilage from Reed, shaped it into a flap and attached it to a muscle in the neck so it could grow its own blood supply.
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