Bensalem High School senior athlete shares ultimate comeback story after tragic accident

BENSALEM, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- For Bensalem High School senior guard Maddie MacDougall, every day on the basketball court is a gift.

"I think I have a very different perspective," she said. "Most people just go out and play and think it's another game, but I think, 'Oh, it's another chance to go out and stand up and play again.' There was a time where that wasn't even a thought crossing my mind.'"

It was not too long ago she couldn't envision herself walking again, let alone running a fast break.

"We were out a local fast food restaurant, and it was pouring rain, and my friend and I went out to the parking lot to get something," she said. "I slipped, and a car actually drove over me."

That car was a minivan, and the accident left MacDougall with a shattered pelvis and internal bleeding from kidney and liver lacerations that required a helicopter ride to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for emergency surgery.

"It's really scary. Knowing you have a whole future ahead of you and knowing just in one instant it could have disappeared for me," said MacDougall.

She was hospitalized for more than a month and remained in a wheelchair with rods holding her pelvis together.

But after four months of physical therapy, she re-learned how to walk.

"It was an everyday question I would ask them, 'Can I play sports? When can I go back to sports?' I don't think they wanted to put me down, so they never gave me a straight answer," she said. "They didn't tell me, 'No, you're not gonna play again,' but they wouldn't say, 'Yes, you are going to play again.'"

Her Coach Steve Johnson recalled the incident seeming life threatening.

"You didn't even know if she'd be able to walk again, let alone play again," he said.

But play again, she did in her senior season.

MacDougall even hit a game-winning three-pointer.

Johnson said, "She's just a kid you want to root for. She brightens up the room, locker-room, wherever she's at."

So what's next? Well, when she's not draining jumpers, MacDougall is hosting her school's newscasts.

She wants to major in media communications in college.