AUBURN — Taylor Norcross doesn’t remember the crash, nor her time at a Lewiston hospital — not even after she awoke from a coma.

But Norcross, 27, of Auburn, has come a long way from her injury on the night of Nov. 4 when the car she was riding in on the Maine Turnpike struck a moose, injuring her as it tore the roof off the car.

Norcross was in a coma for two weeks before regaining consciousness. She was transferred from Central Maine Medical Center to New England Rehab in Portland, where she is undergoing intensive physical and occupational therapy, her longtime boyfriend, Frank Gatto, 40, said Thursday.

When Norcross spoke to the Sun Journal on New Year’s Eve, she was at Gatto’s Auburn home taking a holiday break from therapy. She’ll return to therapy as an outpatient.

Because of the head injuries she sustained, therapists are working with her on short- and long-term memory as well as ongoing cognition in an effort to help her choose the proper course of action, depending on the situation, Gatto said.

Outwardly, Norcross shows no signs of her critical injury and is fully ambulatory.

She began speaking again after the throat tube that aided her breathing was removed about a month ago.

“I feel great,” she said Thursday.

She said her only recent memories are from the Portland hospital. In the meantime, she’s been spending time with family and friends, catching up and trying to get back to normal.

Her first day out of the rehab facility was on Christmas Day. The following weekend she and Gatto strolled through the Old Port and took a trip to Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth and dined with friends.

“I feel like it makes me do better” to be out of the hospital environment, she said, engaging in normal activities.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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