Shannon Reilly is an experienced gymnast, but a small slip earlier this year sent the Keller eighth-grader to the emergency room with a broken neck.
Doctors told her there was a 99 percent chance she'd be paralyzed. Even worse, she could have died.
But that's not her.
Today, Shannon proudly walks through her room, showing off its decor -- pretty typical for any teenage girl.
But the walking part is pretty miraculous, especially when you see the 5-inch scar trailing down the back of her neck.
Shannon vividly remembers the day that she fell when she tried to do a double back flip last May.
"I had fallen before," she said. "I didn't think it was going to be anything big."
But it was big.
The 13-year-old tumbler broke her neck in two places.
"When I landed, I heard this big pop," she said.
She tried to raise her head. Move her arms and legs. But couldn't.
"So it was kinda scary," Shannon said. "That's when I knew something was really wrong."
Shannon went to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, where doctors performed emergency surgery on her spine.
It took seven hours.
"We brought her to the operating room, turned her over on her stomach and operated from the back, putting in six screws and two rods," said Dr. Richard Roberts, a pediatric surgeon at Cook Children's.
In just a few days, she was able to stand up and walk on her own.
Doctors were amazed.
On day seven, the neck brace came off, and she went home. She didn't even have to go through physical therapy.
"I recovered really fast for what happened," Shannon said. "I was pretty amazed."
Reilly can't tumble or play competitve sports again. But that's OK.
She's just grateful she's bouncing around the house like she was before.
E-mail dmiles@wfaa.com
