Four years after Tarboro's Beth Miller suffered a catastrophic brain injury in a car accident, much of her body has healed and she makes daily progress on the road to recovery.

Miller, 32, has lived with her parents Tom and Patsy Miller since January 2005, after she lived in Greenville and Wilmington hospitals for almost six months following the accident.

Since arriving at her parents' home, Beth has gone from being wheelchair-bound and fed through a stomach tube to volunteering at Heritage Hospital and taking up a water aerobics class this summer.

She helps with patient pre-registration at the hospital on Thursday afternoons, and she recently completed a 10-week-long water aerobics class at Tarboro's Community Pool. She learned she was able float, kick, hold her head underwater and come back up to breathe by herself.

During the classes, Tarboro's Retha Deaton showed her an easy way she could swim independently. Patsy said that Deaton showed Beth that she could hold a floatation device with her right hand, while she used her left hand and her legs to propel herself sideways in the water.

The classes were the first time Beth had been in the water for fun since her accident.

Swimming was "just something I never tried to do since the accident," she said. But now it's one more thing that shows how far her recovery has come since her injury.

There are other traits that show the great extent that Beth has recovered. Her 20/30 vision has returned to the level it was before the accident, and her father said she "completely" recalls her long-term memory. But Beth does not remember the ten-month period before and after her accident, her mother said.

Beth continues to take physical and occupational therapy, but she no longer has to take speech therapy. Since finishing her speech therapy, and completely relearning how to talk in the process, she said one of her friends thinks she speaks with a French accent.

Patsy said that several things have helped Beth on her road to recovery, especially the support people in the Edgecombe County area have shown.

"When people know you and they know your circumstances, they're very supportive," Patsy said.

She said there has been a stream of well-wishing from outside Edgecombe County as well. Beth herself writes the thank you notes to people who send her "get well" cards.

Tom also said they could not have gotten through without the help of Geraldine Knight, Beth's certified nursing assistant for the past 3.5 years.

Beth told her parents that with Knight around, she can go places and they "can take a break without worrying about me."

Also, Beth's therapy has been paid for by Medicaid, which her mother said she was "very fortunate" to be able to receive.