After sustaining a life-threatening injury last summer, a Windham teenager is getting help from the Gray Snow Wolves snowmobile club with a 100-mile benefit ride Saturday Feb. 16.

Jordan Emerson, 13, was a member of the Whiz Kids race team when she hit a wall on the driver’s side of her car Aug. 8 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough. The car was totaled, and Emerson fought for her life over the next several days at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Emerson, who a month ago returned from a month-long stay at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, will now be helped along to the road to recovery as Gray Snow Wolves ride to Bethel and back to raise money for the ongoing expenses associated with Emerson’s recovery.

This weekend’s snowmobile ride will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Gray. The group of about a dozen snowmobilers are either being sponsored, or donating money themselves. Shelley said there is no set amount required to participate, but they are asking snowmobilers to try and raise $100.

There is a rain date set for the following weekend, but Shelley said Saturday should make for a good ride, with trails in ideal condition.

“We haven’t had snow like this for years,” said Shelley.

“The support from the community has been outstanding,” said Kim Shelley, Emerson’s aunt and the treasurer of the Gray Snow Wolves.

Fundraising events, like the upcoming snowmobile ride, have allowed the family to focus on getting Jordan well. Brenda Emerson quit her job as a secretary at TD Banknorth to care for her daughter. Donations have helped the family live on Jim Emerson’s salary, and not having to worry about unpaid medical expenses is a huge relief.

“Now that I don’t have to worry about that, we can just focus on Jordan, which has been the greatest gift of all,” said Brenda Emerson.

Some of the fundraising events in recent months were a chicken barbeque, a dance benefit, and a walk for Jordan. The amount of help that has been offered since Jordan’s accident has been overwhelming, according to Brenda and Jim. They even feel a little funny about accepting all the donations, and, according to Jim Emerson, his wife is frugal with the money.

In the days following her accident, Emerson’s parents were given little hope by doctors, as her brain stem had been sheared during the collision. The brain injury affected every aspect of normal functioning, including Jordan’s speech and emotions.

Emersons did not give up on her, keeping a constant vigil as they watched their daughter linger in a coma for two months. The Emersons were warned that when Jordan came out of the coma, it was likely she would not recognize them.

“They said when she came out of it she wouldn’t walk, talk, or know us,” said Jim Emerson.

But Jim Emerson happily remembers his daughter rattling off his cell phone number when she finally awoke, and he knew the doctors had been wrong. Since then, Jordan spent months in hospitals, and has made progress that her family says is nothing short of miraculous.

Jordan has been home for a month, and her parents know there is still a long road ahead. She makes the trip to the New England Rehabilitation Center in Portland three times a week for outpatient occupational, physical, and speech therapy.

The 100-mile ride will help cover unpaid medical expenses, says Kim Shelley, Jordan’s aunt and treasurer of the Gray Snow Wolves. The Emersons recently received more than 50 pages of medical bills from Medical Center. But as Brenda Emerson said, insurance only goes so far.

In addition, there are many daily expenses involved with Jordan’s outpatient therapy. Gas is especially costly. Shelley said when she receives donations from members of the community, she makes it a point to ask if they mind if the money is used to cover transportation or lodging, to which they reply “anything that family needs,” said Shelley.

Jordan is grateful, like her parents, for the kindness shown by both friends and strangers. Her brain injury has affected her ability to project her voice, but in a whisper she thanked the community for their continued support.

With her mother’s attention devoted to her, and her demonstrated ability to beat the odds, Jordan is looking forward to meeting her goals. Now in a wheelchair, she said she hopes to walk again, as well as ride horses, a sport she has loved since she was 3 years old. Brenda Emerson said she looks forward to her daughter gaining more independence.

“I can’t imagine being a 13-year-old not being able to do anything for myself,” said Brenda Emerson.

Despite looking a little frail, Jordan has retained the appearance of a young teenaged girl. Decked out in bright pink, Jordan had her nails done and her hair highlighted last week, and posed demurely for the camera.

She was about to enter the eighth-grade at Windham Middle School, but now has a tutor and is not sure when she will return to school. Like any adolescent girl, friends are important to her, and she is happy to be able to visit with them at home.

Although Emerson still does not have much control over the left side of her body, she can now raise her left leg and is starting to use a walker instead of her wheelchair. She can use her right arm, but it is unsteady. She said in the short term, she would like to use her right arm without it being so shaky.

“She’s beaten everything they said she wouldn’t,” said Jim Emerson.

“The first thing I do every morning is thank God she’s alive,” said Shelley Emerson.

In the event of rain, the ride will be held the following weekend, on Sat., February 23.

Those wishing to donate money to Jordan Emerson can make checks payable to the Gray Snow Wolves, P.O. Box 1091, Gray, ME 04039.