The night she had always dreamed of is now one she cannot remember, when she was crowned Princess of the Ball. Photo / Supplied
Four months later, early on Sunday, November 18, Hollie was in a fatal two-car crash. She suffered serious head injuries and her family was told she would not survive. Teao "Tilly" Marjoribanks, who was in the other vehicle, lost her life.
Respecting Hollie's wishes, the family spent the first week preparing to donate her organs but, at the last moment, doctors noticed an increase in her brain activity.
Labelled a Christmas miracle, Hollie was soon learning how to walk and talk but she had a long way to go in recovering.
The 17-year-old has lost six months worth of her memories but keeps a positive mindset to keep moving forward. Photo / Andrew Warner
One year on, Hollie sits opposite me. She is radiant, with perfectly curled hair falling over her shoulders and pink and purple nails. To look at her, you wouldn't know 12 months earlier she was - in her own words - "knocking on heaven's door".
She talks about losing part of her memory. "I can't remember last year. It was like I was taken away off this planet while my body had a long sleep."
It wasn't until the middle of January, after her 17th birthday that Hollie started holding her memories of each day again - even though she had been out of a coma for over a month.
Her long hair isn't the only thing immaculate as we speak. Her red lipstick paired with the red bomber jacket pops but I learn Hollie spent hours in front of the mirror putting makeup on and wiping it off to perfect the art again.
She points out the small tremor in her hand - a physical reminder of the crash that almost stole her life - and jokes she couldn't work at a cafe in case she spilt coffee everywhere.
But she won't let that hold her back. The now 17-year-old has set her sights on a double bachelors degree in social work and physiotherapy.
"I just love helping people and working with people and kōrero-ing with people."
Living true to her ethos, Hollie is volunteering about 10 hours a week at local shops in a bid to get herself work-ready.
It's a "dream come true" for the teenager, who has been volunteering since she was 15 for Plunket, but it is not the only thing she has her mind set on accomplishing.
Hollie Snell while in a coma after a car crash near Rotorua on November 18 last year. Photo / Supplied
In the past two months, Hollie has been on a fitness journey to help not just her muscle growth but her mind as well. And for someone who had to learn how to brush her teeth again, conquering the Pāpāmoa Hills multiple times seems like a win.
"It kills me, but I love it,'' she tells me.
"The thing is I believe you need a positive mindset, if you believe you are feeling bad nothing will turn out right."
A team of therapists -- including a physiotherapist, rehab coach, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist and a psychologist - work with Hollie each week.
She is miles ahead of where doctors believed she would be given the extent of her brain injury but the road to recovery is lonely and she has had to say goodbye to the "normal" teenage life.
"Life has been stopped. But I have always planned to live my life as it comes so I will get my chance to be a teenager."
Hollie Snell, left, pictured at home in Te Puke with her mother Dale Snell. Photo / File
She just wants to be doing her own thing but her mother Dale admits she doesn't want Hollie to leave her side, having nearly lost her.
"We are fiercely protective of her now. Yes, she can walk but she has to learn other things like crossing the road because there are focus deficits."
Dale says Hollie wasn't the same girl when she woke from her coma and there is still a long journey ahead.
"But nobody is going to hurt my babies again. If Hollie can teach anybody anything it is fighting for what you want."
In saying that, if she ever had to go through it again, Dale said she wouldn't think twice about donating organs.
"When Hollie was on life support, we did not hesitate as a family, not one of us said no. I just blurted it out when they said Hollie wasn't going to make it.
"It is horrible - it's factual and takes away the wholeness of the person but I would do it again if I had to. It is clinical and nasty but it is vital to save another person's life."
One year on from the two-car crash Hollie Snell has set her sights on a double major degree in order to help others. Photo / Andrew Warner
Hollie agrees. It doesn't upset her to hear her mother speaking of the moment she almost lost her life, because as she said earlier, "I love helping people".
"I have always wanted to be an organ donor and I still always will be an organ donor."
What does upset her is knowing the hurt, her whānau and community went through for her.
"I just want everyone to know how grateful I am for not only praying for me but supporting my whānau. Without that, I don't know where I would be right now,'' she says.
"I now hope people will be grateful for everything they have, because in a blink of an eye it could be all gone."
