PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A 10-year-old girl’s brain injuries were so severe; doctors said she might not live let alone walk or talk.

Now, nearly four years later, the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association is honoring her with its 2012 “Comeback Award.”

Davanna Feyrer was an accomplished dancer, until her life changed one snowy night as her mother drove her to practice.

“The light was green and we had proceeded through the intersection,” Minnetta Baumann recalls. “The truck wasn’t able to stop, and hit us.”

Dave Feyrer says his daughter spent weeks in a coma in Children’s Hospital.

“Her doctor admitted to me that he wasn’t sure that he could save her,” said Davanna’s father.

“The best you could hope for was for her to be on a feeding tube and in a wheelchair, and maybe say a few words,” her mother adds. “And now, we can’t even keep her quiet; she talks so much.”

Davanna’s support system extends beyond her immediate family. Three months at Children’s Hospital were followed by three more months of rehab at Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh.

Now 14, she recalls the day she finally returned home.

“It felt wonderful,” she said. “It was the best feeling I had in six months.”

Davanna’s determination and her will exceeded all expectations. Then, one day, she says, “I just got up from the sofa and started walking.”

The ninth grader at Portersville Christian School dreams of being a veterinarian. But she’ll never forget a promise she once made to herself.

“I was thinking, ‘I will walk one day, even though people think otherwise,’” she says.

After she walked, she went back to the dance studio and danced.

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