WINSTON-SALEM — In a sign of good progress, the West Rowan High School volleyball coach who was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on Sunday was taken off the ventilator on Tuesday, according to her brother.

In a message from Jan Dowling’s brother, Jared Safley, he indicated that she “is now able to sit up in bed in the trauma ICU and have conversations with us, and she is even cracking a few jokes.”

Given her condition after the accident, Safley said it was a miracle how far she had come.

“The turnaround from just 36 hours ago is nothing short of amazing,” Safley said. “God has more for her to do here, and we are so thankful for that. We are also grateful for all of the prayers from so many people across Rowan County and even beyond. She has a long recovery ahead of her, but we are excited and beyond overjoyed that she has an opportunity to walk that road. Please continue to pray for her.”

Dowling was involved in a motorcycle near U.S. Hwy. 52 and Stone Road in Rockwell around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. She was transported to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital with severe internal bleeding and potentially life-threatening injuries. She has been there since the accident.

Around 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dowling’s brother, Jared Safley, said, “Jan is out of surgery and back in trauma ICU recovering. The surgery went extremely well, with the surgery team being able to repair the major damaged areas. Still have one issue they are going to do some additional scans on later tonight, but the surgery today was critical, and things went as well as we could have hoped for.”