Emmett Longley can't turn his head, but eyes bright with love follow Laynye, 14 months, as she tests her walking skills, so recent that she still drops to all fours when she is in a hurry.

Faith and family are what keep Emmett alive.

"That's all that's got us through," said his wife, Tammy.

On May 2, Emmett, 37, went from active and athletic to having to have assistance even to breathe.

He was visiting his parents in Melrose, N.M., when he was thrown from a horse and landed on his head, breaking his neck, the injuries so severe that the slightest movement could have killed him.

He was immediately numb from the neck down, he said, "but I didn't think about it being so serious."

Emmett continued to breath as he was airlifted to Covenant Hospital, a three-hour trip. Meanwhile, back home in Shamrock, Tammy received the call about his accident.

They had just opened a new hair salon, and she had been too busy that week to go with him to New Mexico. The couple has been together four years, a blended family that includes her three children, Megan Drewery, 15; Mollye Drewery, 11; Colton Drewery, 9; and their daughter, Laynye Longley. He has a daughter, Nikki Longley, 11, who lives in Lubbock.

Emmett and Nikki were in Melrose to visit his parents when the accident occurred. His brother-in-law, a fireman in Melrose, insisted that Emmett be taken immediately to Lubbock instead of stopping at a smaller hospital, Emmett said. That decision may have saved his life.

A high school track star who placed second in the 100-meter race in state competition, Emmett also played football and other sports. For some years he was into serious body building. A hairdresser for several years, he had become a carpenter after moving to Shamrock.

Doctors credit his good physical condition with keeping him breathing as he was transported to Lubbock. Most patients with his injuries would not have made it, doctors told Tammy.

The week after the accident, one physician told her Emmett would never be anything but a talking head. She was stunned and didn't reply. But the next day when the same doctor repeated that statement to Emmett's parents, she had a few word for him, telling him that her husband still had his heart, mind and soul.

It is that spirit that has carried her through and given her strength to be his advocate. Humor has helped them through some of the toughest moments.

"We laugh a lot," she said, describing her attempts to move him from the wheelchair onto the bed without the lift one night at home.

The impact of his smile is undiminished, although they have cried many tears, too, she said.

Emmett said he copes with his condition one day at a time, but he worries about how hard she is working. While he and the baby sleep late in the mornings, Tammy does household chores.

Convincing the ventilator machine company to let Tammy care for him at home has been an uphill battle because of liability issues, she said.

"I have screamed and bawled and yelled," she said.

No one would agree to put a ventilator in Shamrock. Her only hope was to move to Lubbock. Except for her child support payments, their income stopped with his injury since she would not leave his side. Social Security has yet to kick in, she said.

Medicare did not begin until Emmett had been hospitalized for a month, and those costs alone amount to almost $700,000.

First Baptist Church has set up a fund for Emmett at City Bank. Friends in Shamrock donated the use of a recreational vehicle for the summer so the family could stay together. The RV was parked on the hospital parking lot.

When it was time for release from the hospital, the second battle for Emmett began. Tammy was adamant he would not be placed in a nursing home.

Nurses and others would ask how she thought she could take care of him with four children to care for.

After about a month out of the hospital, her reply is, "I don't know how I would have done it without the four children to help.

"My kids have been the most awesome help. Megan gave up varsity basketball and track to move here so we could get him out of the hospital. They love him as much as they love their own father."

The family already has weathered one crisis when Emmett stopped breathing at home. Tammy knew what to do because it had happened before in the hospital. The children immediately did their part, with Megan helping bag him — that is, use a plastic bag to force air in his lungs. Colton called 911.

Mollye and Colton like to help with the physical therapy.

Emmett had lived in Lubbock 13 years before becoming a sales representative for Armstrong-McCall Beauty Supply out of Amarillo. He and Tammy met when he made a sales call in Shamrock.

Elizabeth Shotts, a member of First Baptist, raised $3,500 for school clothes and school supplies and went shopping with them, Tammy said.

Jerry Huggins, minister of pastoral care at Lubbock's First Baptist Church, had contacted Shotts about the family's needs after seeing Tammy living in the hospital waiting room.

Shotts is a member of a ministry at First Baptist called The Maker's Dozen, which provides cookies weekly for people from out of town who are staying by the side of a patient.

Church members also dropped by for visits during Emmett's five-month hospital stay.

"First Baptist Church has helped us tremendously," Tammy said.

Shotts said, "I just don't think I've ever known anybody as courageous as she is. When I met Tammy, she had been living in the ICU surgical waiting room with the baby for a month, sleeping on a pillow in the corner."

Although people tried to get her to put Emmett in a nursing home, Tammy refused, saying he would not do that to her, Shotts said.

If life is to continue with any quality for Emmett, the family needs support from the community. Already, people at First Baptist stepped forward with significant assistance.

One person anonymously provided rent for a year so the family can be together and the children can attend school here.

Sherri Laseman, registered nurse case manager for home health from Intern Home Care, said there are devices that could help Emmett become more independent, such as a handicap-accessible van and a computer he could operate with his mouth.

"So far, they are doing a really, really good job," Laseman said. "She's taken on an awful lot. We are doing everything we can to get them some help, and it gets a little better every week."

Their love for one another is obvious, Laseman said.

"They want their family to stay intact, and we're trying to do all we can to make sure that happens."

Shotts noted,"The children are so helpful. It is just a very special family."

Laseman said she has seen these situations work out. With each crisis, including the air conditioner going out, "she has kept her head on straight and marched on. She's a very remarkable woman."

Tammy dismisses praise for her courage, saying, "God has really taken care of us. It's just been amazing to me (that) people we didn't even know have helped."

Together is the way they have done everything, including coaching Little League baseball, basketball and football. They sometimes had to split to have one of them present at all school activities for the children.

Tammy is concerned about how such an active man will adjust to life as it is now, but she is determined they will go through it together, as a family.