Life can change in the blink of an eye.

For one little girl, a tragic accident left her with both feet severed and in desperate need of a miracle.

Luckily, a group of doctors were up to the task and determined to make sure 7-year-old Aubrey Scaletta would dance once again.

In May, Aubrey was with her twin sister, Grayson, as their father, Daniel Scaletta, was driving them home from gymnastics. Aubrey was playing with a ratchet strap – which is often used to tie down cargo. She had one end tied around her feet when suddenly the other end flew out of the window and wrapped around the truck’s axle.

The young girl was yanked nearly through the window, and she began yelling.

‘There was a loud bang and the whole truck shuddered and Aubrey yelled, “I’m bleeding,”‘ Daniel said.

I turned around and looked and saw her injuries.”

Immediately airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital’s trauma center, Aubrey faced a critical situation. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Peter Apel and his team performed reattachment surgery that defied conventional timelines – which would include a week of planning. Audrey’s took only 6 hours.

Grayson Scaletta, left, holds hands with her twin, Aubrey. Aubrey was recovering from having both feet reattached following an accident. Photo by Carlion Clinic

“When I got the phone call about an hour after the accident, they thought they might have to transfer her out of town, and I said, ‘Hold on a minute. If her feet are salvageable, then her best chance is here with us tonight—not tomorrow, not in six hours, but right here, right now with us,’” Apel said.

“We had to operate quickly to re-establish blood flow and reattach her feet to her legs,” the doctor added. “If we would have waited even a few hours, the feet would have died and most certainly would have been amputated.”

Lauren, Aubrey’s mother, said ‘after the first surgery, there was a lot of question about her right leg being able to make it because it sustained a lot of damage to the veins. And then as we progressed, it was like, “Okay, well, we made it after this hurdle. We made it through this hurdle. We’re looking better.”‘

The little girl went through six rounds of surgery, which included ski grafts to replace the skin she lost in the accident.

After months of physical therapy, Aubrey was able to begin walking, running and dancing. But more importantly, she was able to keep a family tradition with her sister, Grayson.

Seven-year-old Virginia girl Aubrey Scaletta performed in ‘The Nutcracker’ recently, after nearly losing her feet in a devastating accident this past May. Photo by Carilion Clinic

Each year, the twins would perform in The Nutcracker at Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center. This year’s performance had been uncertain. 

“Even now it still doesn’t feel like it really happened,” Lauren said. “I remember right after she got out of the hospital, I was running an errand and I saw a little girl in a dance leotard with her mom, and it struck me that we might never be able to do things like that again.”

So just being here and watching her do the things she loves makes me constantly say, ‘She’s incredible.’”

And it marked the first time the girls had been able to dance with each other since Aubrey’s accident.

“Being twins, the first time they ever spent apart was with Aubrey in the hospital, so that was a big adjustment,” Daniel said. “To see them dance together again, was just unbelievable.”

To see the miraculous recovery and Aubrey’s performance, watch below.

Sources: People | Daily Mail