NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A local woman's story is nothing short of miraculous. Now, there's yet another chapter in her journey. She's putting in hard work and sweat to try to keep a promise to her mother.
It was still dark out in the early morning hours, but Erica Baggett had been up a few hours already.
"I've got a goal, and it's just Erica time before I get my day started," she said, ready to take on the day. "I don't make excuses."
The reason she was up this early is a story that starts nearly five years ago. In 2018, Erica, her husband Josh, and their then-18-month-old son Hall were driving to an Ole Miss football game. Erica took off her seatbelt to comfort her son crying in the back seat. She doesn't remember when the car was hit by an 18-wheeler. After 10 weeks, Erica's first memories were at the Shepherd Center hospital in Atlanta. It wasn't a certainty that Erica would walk again.
"I went through the car and landed in the median," she said. "I was, like, gasping for air on the side of the road. The prognosis I had received, DAI TBI, 90% of people pass away."
Every move forward, Erica always had an inspiration.
"You never know what someone's going through," Janet Haselton said, speaking to NewsChannel 5 in spring 2022.
In the span of 10 years, Janet was diagnosed with cancer three times. Janet is Erica's mom.
"It's just having faith that's gotten me through all this," Janet said. "It's devastating, but just the way that I think and I am, it's just, I did not want to sit in that corner and let it go and just die. I've got to start living. I've got to beat this."
"She didn't crawl into a hole," Erica said. "She got back up and went to work."
Erica's made an amazing recovery. One year ago, that recovery led Erica to run in the St. Jude Rock 'N' Roll Marathon.
"I feel good!" Erica told NewsChannel 5 at the time. "I'm nervous, but I've been training for years to do this. It's a long way to run, just Erica and the road and Taylor Swift. 26 miles. I think I can."
Mom Janet was there.
"Erica, oh! Wow! You did it!" Janet told Erica after she completed the marathon.
Months after we spoke to her, Janet Haselton, Erica's mom, died in November.
"I was given her Bible that she read and took to church every week," said Erica. "It is such an honor to have. I read it every day. I'll go back and look at Bible verses and see if she's made any notes, so that's really cool."
Not long before Janet died, Erica told her mom something.
"I said, 'hey mom, I want to run the Boston Marathon,'" Erica remembered. "I would love to! She said, 'I'll come and cheer you on! I will be there!' Dang it. I'm a woman of my word. Well, I told my mother I'm going to run the Boston Marathon, so now I gotta run the dang Boston Marathon."
It's early mornings for Erica. She's working with Coach Steve Hagan to improve her time. Qualifying for the Boston Marathon isn't easy.
"I need to shave about an hour off my previous marathon time," she said. "I've got to qualify, run a qualifying time, and I have to run it on a qualifying race course."
It's tough, but there's motivation here. Erica said she feels the presence of her mom in every step of her training.
"Every morning I run, and I talk to her," Erica said. "I tell her 'good morning!' I know she's hearing this right now. I told her, 'mom, I'm going to be talking about you today.' She's telling all her angel friends. 'That's my girl, and she's running.' I want to be that same inspiration that my mom was for me. I want to be that inspiration for someone else."
