Christy Huddy was doing her best to make sure her family got ahead. She had gone back to college for a nursing degree. She was trying to get her middle son into Kamehameha, so she had him working with a tutor. On Jan. 5, she was dropping off her son for his lesson in Enchanted Lake when the unthinkable happened: The boy fell while getting out of the car and she went to help him. She was standing outside her Toyota FJ Cruiser when the car started rolling down a steep incline with her 5-year-old daughter strapped inside.

Christy tried to stop the car any way she could. She somehow angled the car off to the side rather than straight into the rushing traffic below.

It crashed through a hedge and up an embankment. Neighbors heard the car run over trash cans and a mailbox.

They found Christy pinned under the car not breathing, her daughter safe inside.

It was the day before her 35th birthday.

Christy was revived in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. She had broken ribs, a collapsed lung and bruises to internal organs. She had no injuries to her head but was without oxygen to her brain for several minutes. She was in a coma for weeks and just started responding last week.

"She's a fighter," said her husband, Donald Huddy. "Plus with all the prayers. I put all my faith in the power of prayer."

The family started a blog, iheartchristy.blogspot.com, which chronicles her daily struggle to battle back.

"On the blog, we asked friends to pray at 8 every morning, you know, to focus the effort," Donald says. "People tell me, 'Yep, I prayed this morning!' "

The pictures on the blog will make you cry: vivacious Christy and her three children at family parties; dozens of friends and relatives trying to look brave holding a vigil outside her Queen's hospital room; Christy looking small and fragile in her hospital gown, her big husband squeezed next to her in the bed holding her so she can get some sleep.

Her doctors at Queen's have recommended she be treated at Craig Hospital in Denver, which specializes in traumatic brain injury cases. They are now waiting to see if HMSA will cover the cost of treatment.

Meanwhile, her progress has been promising. She's talking and starting to eat.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.