Former Mt. Hebron basketball player Alisha Mosley was taken off a ventilator Jan. 21, her mother, Vicky, said, and is breathing on her own for the first time since Dec. 1 when she was admitted to the intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital and put into an induced coma.

"She's been breathing on her own since 10 this morning," Vicky said Monday night. "I'm so excited."

And there was more good news. Vicky said that her 31-year-old daughter was given a small voice box attachment that helps her talk. Since she came out of the coma Jan. 12, day 43 of her ordeal, Mosley, who underwent a tracheotomy at Johns Hopkins, has communicated by moving her lips.

During the nearly two months that Mosley has been at Johns Hopkins, Vicky and her husband, Allen, have been a fixture at the medical intensive care unit. "This has been unbelievably hard," said Vicky, who said that at three separate times, doctors told the family that there was a "high probability" that Alisha "will not make it."

But the prognosis has changed. "The doctors see a full recovery," Vicky said. "Today is day 56. She'll probably be here for a few more weeks as they watch to see if her lungs are strong enough. Then she'll go to physical therapy."

A two-time Howard County girls basketball Player of the Year before graduating in 1996, Mosley was scheduled to see her primary care doctor Dec. 1. She had been having difficulty breathing for at least four weeks prior to the appointment, Vicky Mosley said, but continued to work as an assistant women's basketball coach at Loyola University.

Dr. Elizabeth Bower quickly realized that Mosley was in need of urgent medical attention and had her taken by ambulance to Howard County General Hospital.

"Dr. Bower saved my daughter's life," Vicky said.

Doctors at the Columbia hospital determined that Mosley had fluid in 90 percent of her lungs and that it was critical that she receive specialized treatment. She was flown to Johns Hopkins eight hours after having arrived at Howard County General.

This was not Mosley's first trip to Johns Hopkins. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with dermatomyositis. According to a National Institutes of Health Web site, dermatomyositis is "one of a group of muscle diseases known as the inflammatory myopathies, which are characterized by chronic muscle inflammation accompanied by muscle weakness."

Since Mosley was induced into a coma, she has had to battle double pneumonia, acute kidney failure -- she was on dialysis for three weeks -- and an inflammation in the back of her brain.

"You can't imagine the pain," said Vicky, describing what the family has been through. "Alisha's been on 22 different medications and has undergone seven procedures, that's how detailed we've been following it."

But throughout the ordeal, Vicky has learned something about her daughter, who earned a basketball scholarship to Wake Forest and began her second stint as assistant basketball coach at Loyola in 2005.

"I had no idea how many people knew and cared about Alisha," said Vicky. "And if I didn't have that support, I don't know how I would have made it. Phone calls, text messages and cards came in from all over the country. She has been visited by family, friends and colleagues -- including her Loyola team. And today, her former coach at Wake Forest came to visit."

For now, Mosley can sit in a wheelchair for two hours, wheel herself the equivalent of a city block, reply to text messages and talk with assistance from the voice piece. Her brother, André, updates her Facebook page daily to keep everyone abreast of her progress.

The Jan. 28 update undoubtedly will include that Mosley is walking with support and is being moved from intensive care to acute rehabilitation.

She has demonstrated an inner will and determination to survive.

And one thing Mosley can expect when she returns to her Ellicott City home is a three-day party -- she has missed her birthday, Christmas and New Year's.

"She turned 31 on Dec. 23," Vicky said. "We are not celebrating anything until she gets out of the hospital."

This story has been updated.

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