Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 30, 2008

THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - There were hugs all around as Alice Mawdsley stepped off a plane - skipping part of the way to the airport terminal building - last week in Fort Smith.

The June 27 flight back home to an emotional greeting by friends was another milestone in the amazing - some say miraculous - recovery by the teenager from life-threatening head injuries.

She was hurt in a snowmobile accident in January and had been in Edmonton for medical treatment ever since.

Alice, 17, said it is good to be home.

"It makes me really happy to know that I'm all better and able to come home and able to see all of my friends again," she said.

Alice had been excitedly looking forward to the return to Fort Smith.

"I've been counting down the hours for a couple of weeks now," she said.

About two dozen people were at the airport to welcome her.

"She's a miracle," said friend Angela Marie.

Delaney Poitras, another friend, was also at the airport to greet Alice.

"It's so exciting," Delaney said. "I was so nervous to see her. I was shaking."

After the accident, Alice was in a month-long coma and underwent a number of operations. Gradually, she relearned how to talk and walk.

Asked what got her through the ordeal, much of which she doesn't remember, Alice responded, "I don't know. I guess just really wanting to go home and getting back to the person that I was."

She expressed thanks to the people of Fort Smith for their support, including their visits and messages.

"I know that I wouldn't have been able to make it through without their support," she said.

Alice still has work to do to improve her strength, fine motor skills and memory.

"I've definitely made quite a step forward in my ability to remember things," she said.

"It still needs a little bit of work, but it's better than it was."

Doctors believe being home will assist in Alice's recovery.

"They told me that it will definitely help my memory," she said.

Her mother, Phyllis Mawdsley, said it takes time to recover from a brain injury.

"Her recovery will involve probably another year and a half until she's really back and feeling like the old Alice she used to be in many ways," she said.

Alice said she plans to go back to high school in the fall, adding she wants to finish school and "get on with my life."

The teenager was hurt on an inner tube being dragged to the top of a sliding hill by a snowmobile. The tube struck a parked vehicle.