Laverne Teen's Recovery "A Miracle" After Rollover Crash

Hannah Bockelman's life changed last month after she was left with severe spinal cord injuries following a car wreck.

Hannah,16, fractured her C2 and C3 vertebrae, similar to the injury that left late actor Christopher Reeve nearly completely paralyzed for the rest of her life. Friday, her recovery is surprising her medical team, her family, and herself.

Her Sweet 16 celebrations didn't go as planned. Instead of a surprise road trip with her boyfriend, Hannah, from Laverne, took an unexpected MediFlight to OU Medical after their vehicle rolled over on the highway.

"We rolled a few times," Hannah said, "and we both ejected. I think that God definitely was with me during the wreck and He saved me."

Hannah says she doesn't remember the accident at all, but pictures from the scene are all too real.

"The first time I saw the truck," she said, "I got emotional because it was amazing that I got out of that. It was so completely smashed."

The damage done to the truck is small compared to what the accident did to Hannah's spine and vertebrae. In addition to fracturing two vertebrae, she also suffered small fractures in her lower back and a brachial plexus injury in her left arm.

Natalie Bockelman, Hannah's step-mother said, "Her arm was the only thing she could feel. The rest of her body, she was paralyzed and she couldn't feel the rest of her body. Will she walk again 10 years from now? Will she get to go to college in two years? We had no idea how extreme it was going to be and what to expect.”

Hannah remembers the shock of waking up in a hospital bed.

“My left side was completely paralyzed at first. I couldn't move anything.”

Enough damage was done to sideline the seasoned cheerleader, basketball and softball player, and track and cross country runner.

After surgery to fuse her vertebrae together with metal rods and a plate was complete, she was sent to Children's Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethany where she stunned medical staff with her unexplainable recovery.

Hannah said staff told her they don't usually talk to patients in similar situations because they're still under, with their breathing tube on, and still asleep. They call Hannah a miracle, blessed to be alive.

But the real icing on that Sweet 16 birthday cake came just over a month after an accident. Hannah is walking out of the rehab center on her own this week and headed home.