Nevada High School Lady Tiger player on long road to recovery

Nevada High School varsity basketball player Lexi Johnson says that she has a lot to be thankful for.

She sits at home recovering from having broken her left femur and both tibias, along with a collar bone. She was just recently able to get out of her wheelchair and begin to walk on crutches, but still struggles to move one knee due to a surgically repaired patellar tendon. With a plate in her femur and rods in both of her tibias to help them heal, she hopes to finally be able to return to school after winter break for the first time since the middle of October.

To the untrained eye, this may not seem like a blessing or anything to be thankful for. But after being air-lifted from a head-on collision with a pickup truck in her sport utility vehicle on Oct. 13 -- a helicopter ride that she doesn't even remember -- Lexi is more than aware of just how blessed she is to be alive.

The accident, coming just three months after surgery to repair a torn ACL in her knee, led to another six-hour surgery to put rods in both tibia bones, a plate in her left femur and to repair a torn patellar tendon. A seat belt, authorities have said, was the only thing that saved her life.

After this latest surgery, the long road to recovery began. Lexi has spent the last two months in a wheelchair, unable to walk at all, and just got out and walked with crutches for the first time since the accident last week.

The road to recovery has obviously been tough, but Lexi's attitude still remains just as positive as ever. "It's been frustrating, of course. I just try to stay positive and hope that one of these days I'll be back," Lexi said, reflecting back on her experience thus far.

The road ahead still appears as though it will be a long and difficult one, with a month of recently-begun rehabilitative physical therapy ahead of her, then training and working on the court in an attempt to make a return to playing basketball for Nevada, which she hopes to do by next year.

Doctors have told the Johnson family that if the physical therapy is not effective in loosening the scar tissue around her knee, then Lexi will have to undergo another surgery in order to regain full range of motion in her knee at some point and the rods and plate in her leg will be surgically removed in a year.

Lexi has kept her strong and positive attitude about her and according to her mother, Natalie Johnson, is still pushing hard to make a full and quick recovery. "She's handled the pain, I think, incredibly well. I admire her for that," said Natalie of Lexi's strong attitude toward the situation.

Some positive news has come out of the whole thing, though, in that doctors have told Lexi and her family that she should be able to completely recover and regain as much function and normal activity as she chooses.

She hopes to begin working with her coaches and the Nevada High School basketball team to make her comeback as soon as possible. Also, she now hopes to be able to start going to all of the team's games again and travelling on the bus with them -- she's been at some home games, supporting the team with her presence.

Lexi told the Daily Mail that she would like most of all to send out special "thank-yous" to all of her friends and family who have supported her in her recovery and especially Nevada girl's basketball coach Brent Bartlett for everything he has done for her.