A mother has shared horrifying footage of her daughter lying in a mutilated mess, asking if this is “real life” after a pizza delivery driver ran into her at a pedestrian crossing.
Lakyn Stroder was on her way to the beach with her friends on Okaloosa Island, Florida, when she was flung 30 feet in the air by a car reportedly traveling at about 40 mph.
Disturbing footage shows her lying on a twisted heap just after she was hit by a pizza delivery boy, just a day after celebrating her 15th birthday.
Lakyn can be seen writhing in pain and she was left with a grade three liver tear, a broken left femur and tailbone, and bruised lungs and kidneys.
Doctors told her there was a 95 percent chance she would never talk or walk again, but she made a miraculous recovery, despite her internal injuries and a life-changing stroke.
Lakyn Stroder (pictured before the accident and recovering in hospital) was heading to the beach with her friends on Okaloosa Island, Florida, when she was thrown 30 feet in the air by a car reportedly traveling at about drove 65 km/h.
Her mother, Elaina Jones, 35, arrived just minutes after the accident, which happened in March last year.
She said, “She was talking to me on the spot. Her leg was folded under her.
She kept saying, “Mommy, is this real, is this real life?”. It was really terrifying.’
However, during her transfer between multiple hospitals, Lakyn suffered a stroke that left her unable to walk, speak, read or write.
A year later, her mother is hopeful about her future as Lakyn can walk again, passed her driving test and also participates in pageants.
Elaina, from Magnolia, Arkansas, said they took a trip to Florida’s Okaloosa Island for her birthday.
The next day, Lakyn and five of her friends went to the beach.
Lakyn was the last to get to the other side of the crosswalk when she was hit by the pizza delivery boy.
Pictured: Lakyn Stroder lying on the ground after the accident and in the hospital. Doctors said there was a 95 percent chance she would never talk or walk again
Elaina said, “I just lay down to take a nap and I was almost asleep and her friend called me.
“I almost didn’t pick up the phone. When I picked up, her friend said, “Lak was hit by a car.” I just said “what?”.
“The panic and fear in her voice, I knew she was serious.”
Elaina said the friends had only just left the apartment, so she arrived at the scene about four minutes after she was hit.
She said that while she thought it was just Lakyn’s leg that was broken, the teen suffered many internal injuries.
Pictured: Lakyn is transferred for medical treatment and a brain scan for the injured. She made a miraculous recovery, despite suffering a life-changing stroke and internal injuries
After the accident, she was taken to HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital.
Days later, she was flown to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola Hospital and remained there for two weeks.
While traveling by plane between the two facilities, Lakyn suffered a stroke.
Her mother, who also works as a nurse, said she had a stroke between the first and second hospital.
She said: ‘They gave her some painkillers and she was completely out of it.
Pictured: Lakyn in the hospital with her mother, Elaina. Her mother, who also works as a nurse, said she had a stroke between the first and second hospital
“There was a cramp in her arm and she didn’t move her right side at all.”
They arrived at the second hospital and were sent to the pediatric ICU where they waited to have her legs checked.
After they fixed her leg, they did an MRI on her and told her she had a stroke.
She had a carotid artery dissection, which occurs when there is a tear or separation in the layers of the carotid artery in your neck.
A year later, Lakyn still finds it difficult to write, read and speak.
She also struggles with her mental health as she feels trapped as a result of her communication issues.
Pictured: Lakyn in a wheelchair and learning to drive. She has now passed her driving test
Elaina said, “Her hand and speech will take the longest to come back.
‘She can’t read, she can only pick out certain words, so everything is read to her before school.
“She has something called expressive aphasia and receptive aphasia, so her brain knows what it wants to say, but doesn’t let her say it.
“We did a lot of therapy and I would say she has maybe 30% [of her speech] back now.
“In conversation it’s usually one word from her, but cognitively she’s all there.”
Pictured: Lakyn passes her driving test and attends a beauty pageant. Her mom said, “She loves doing her pageants as long as she doesn’t need interviews”
She added, “She’s 100 percent a 16-year-old girl trapped in a body she can’t communicate with.
“She has lost several friends because she can no longer communicate as before.
“She is very depressed, she is very angry. But she’s made tremendous progress and she’s still alive.
She passed her driving test. We went to a place for people with intellectual disabilities. They read it to her and she passed.
“She loves doing her pageants as long as she doesn’t need interviews.”
Elaina hopes that by sharing her daughter’s story she will encourage drivers and pedestrians alike to be more aware of their surroundings.
She said, “I want drivers to be aware of their surroundings.
“I also think we should teach our children that the driver is not going to stop just like that. You don’t just walk out onto the road and think ‘they won’t hit me’ because they will.
‘I also want to encourage others to treat people with respect, precisely because they may have a disability or a physical defect. They are still cognitively aware and know what is going on.’