SAC.Born Fighting at 3 Pounds — Now 16-Year-Old Dilynn Turner Faces the Fight of Her Life After a Sudden Alabama Crash

Sixteen years ago, Dilynn Turner entered this world already defying the odds.

Born 11 weeks early and weighing just 3 pounds, she was impossibly small — fragile by medical standards — yet full of a fierce spirit that surprised everyone around her. Doctors watched closely. Family members prayed endlessly. And little by little, Dilynn grew stronger.

She grew into a daughter deeply loved, a sister fiercely protective of her siblings, and a friend known for her warmth and quiet strength.

Today, that same girl is once again fighting for her life.

Late Tuesday night, as her family gathered anxiously by their phones, doctors prepared to place Dilynn Turner, now 16 years old, into a medically induced coma.

“They’re putting Dilynn in a medically induced coma as we speak,” her stepfather, David Methvin, said during a phone call around 7 p.m. “They haven’t told us yet if they’ll have to remove part of her skull to relieve the swelling on her brain.”

For the Turner family, the words felt unreal — a nightmare unfolding far too quickly.

Just two nights earlier, Dilynn had been driving home alone. It was an ordinary evening. She had just gotten her hair done, something so normal, so teenage, that it makes what followed even harder to comprehend.

The crash happened at the intersection of Highway 157 and Childhaven Road, north of Cullman, Alabama.

Paramedics rushed to the scene.

“They wanted to airlift her to Huntsville Hospital,” David explained. “But the weather was terrible — rain and fog. So they had to take her by ambulance instead.”

Every minute mattered.

At the hospital, doctors confirmed the severity of her injuries. Dilynn had suffered a traumatic brain injury. Her skull was fractured. There was bleeding in her brain. She also sustained a broken leg, a broken jaw, and a ruptured ear.

As of the last update from her family, Dilynn remained unconscious.

For those who know her, the reality is almost impossible to process.

This is the same girl who once fit in the palm of a hand. The same child whose early life was marked by incubators, medical monitors, and whispered prayers. The same teenager who walked the halls of Good Hope High School with dreams, friendships, and a future that felt wide open.

Now, machines breathe for her.

Doctors monitor swelling inside her brain, weighing decisions no family ever wants to hear discussed — including whether surgery may require removing part of her skull to save her life.

Her family waits.

And they pray.

Dilynn’s mother, Jessica, and her stepfather David asked that an update be shared, not just to inform the community, but to ask for something more powerful than words.

Hope.

The family surrounding Dilynn is large and deeply connected. Alongside Jessica and David are Dilynn’s father, Derek, and stepmother, Ashley. She is loved by siblings and step-siblings Ayden, Peyton, Ally, Adalynn, Molly, Micah, and Brayden — a family bound together now by fear, faith, and an unshakable belief in her strength.

Those closest to Dilynn say that strength has always been part of who she is.

“She’s always been a fighter,” one family member shared quietly. “She started life fighting — and she hasn’t stopped yet.”

Friends, classmates, and members of the Good Hope community have begun sharing messages, prayers, and words of encouragement as news spreads. For many, the shock is overwhelming. One moment, Dilynn was a teenager driving home after getting her hair done. The next, she was fighting for her life in an ICU.

It’s the kind of story that stops people in their tracks.

The kind that forces parents to hold their children a little tighter. The kind that reminds everyone how fragile life can be — and how quickly everything can change.

Doctors continue to monitor Dilynn closely. Decisions are being made hour by hour. Her family remains by her side, clinging to faith and to the belief that the same strength that carried her through the earliest days of her life will carry her through this moment as well.

For now, the Turner family asks for prayers — and patience.

They ask for compassion.

They ask that people remember Dilynn not just as a patient in a hospital bed, but as a girl who has already proven, once before, that she knows how to fight.

Born at 3 pounds.
Sixteen years strong.
And now facing the battle of her life.

If there is one thing her family knows for certain, it is this:

Dilynn Turner has never given up before.

And they are praying she won’t start now.