Famous for her "The NieNie Dialogues" blog, which focuses on her experiences as a mother and a member of the Mormon community, Nielson is also well known as a survivor of a 2008 plane crash that left her with severe, widespread burns. She was twenty-seven years old and a mother of four when she boarded a Cessna plane piloted by her husband and was severely injured as the result of a mechanical failure that occurred en route from Arizona to New Mexico.