PALMYRA, Maine — The last thing Tabitha Morrill remembers about the morning of Dec. 12 is looking out her passenger window and seeing a telephone pole coming at her.

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh crap,’” she said during a recent interview. “I don’t remember much else.”

A LifeFlight helicopter rushed the 22-year-old to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Doctors told her she was lucky to be alive, but her injuries are serious: broken and fractured vertebrae in her neck, a fractured skull and severe facial injuries, a terribly damaged right ear. She faces months and months of healing.

“[Doctors] haven’t said, but I’m assuming and hoping that she’ll make a full recovery after everything is healed,” said Barbara Gould, of Hartland, Tabitha Morrill’s mother. Morrill, a member of the Nokomis Regional High School Class of 2005, is staying with her parents while she heals.

The accident on Route 152 in Palmyra knocked out power to at least four towns and closed the road for most of the day. Rescuers said ice and drifting snow caused the crash.

Facing several months in a neck brace and numerous follow-up visits to doctors, Morrill has her sights set on the day she can resume her normal life, though the challenges ahead are considerable.

Morrill, who has no health insurance, worries about her medical bills and is hoping to keep a home she rents with a roommate in Palmyra. A family member has distributed collection cans at local stores, and family and friends are doing what they can.

“She still has to pay rent for her place if she wants to keep it,” said Gould. “Plus she has the medical expenses. We’re just grateful she’s still here.”

As difficult as the pain is — Tabitha said she “never sleeps” because of it — fighting boredom is almost as hard. She yearns for visits from friends and family to break up long days with little or nothing to do except sit and heal.

“That makes her even more depressed,” said Gould.

Having recently received her license as a certified residential medication aide, Tabitha looks forward to returning to her job as a caretaker for two women with developmental disabilities at a firm called SKILLS Inc.

“I love everything about it,” said Tabitha of her job. “It’s just the thought of helping people, I guess.”

Tabitha said she’s grateful to the rescuers who pulled her from her car and the doctors and nurses who cared for her at the hospital.

“That means a lot to me,” she said, adding a piece of advice for others: “Drive slow.”

Well-wishers may contact Tabitha Morrill by calling 938-3872 or by mail to P.O. Box 22, Hartland 04943.