Young woman's leg saved by new procedure

MIAMI, Fla. (WPVI) -- A young Florida woman is walking again after a devastating injury - and a surgery that's never been done before.

Danielle Press, 25, suffered life-threatening injuries last year after a boat propeller severed flesh, muscle and nerve.

By the time she got to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, she'd nearly died.

"It's kind of a blur, so I don't really have much memory of the accident itself," she said.

Her life was saved, but the sciatic nerve in her left leg - which controls most movement and sensation - had been cut and separated.

Doctors can sometimes use artificial grafts to bridge those gaps.

But Dr. Gabriel Ruiz transplanted Danielle's own nerve cells - and it worked. They grew into a new nerve.

"I feel wonderful," Danielle said.

"I hadn't seen her in a few months, and I was telling Danielle how shocking it was for me to see her get up from the chair, walk toward me and give me a hug. It was probably one of the best things that I can remember with a patient," said Dr. Ruiz.

Because the procedure had never been done before, Dr. Ruiz needed the OK of the Food and Drug Administration - and Danielle put in a lot of time into her own rehabilitation.