Broken Arrow Teen Paralyzed In Crash Credits Family For Healing

It was a night the Gniech family will never forget. Except for Ally, who can't remember much of it. She was told that she was involved in a single vehicle crash in early January and left on the side of the road. Ally woke up paralyzed and in a Tulsa hospital.

Ally is now inspiring others with her remarkable recovery. It all started with a knock at Dustin Gniech's door, at 4 a.m. on January 3, 2015. 

1/3/2015 Related Story: Teens Wreck, Abandon Camo SUV On Tulsa Highway

"Highway Patrol Officer and that's every parent's worst nightmare. The officer at the door told me she wasn't going to make it,” said Dustin Gniech.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a suspected DUI teen driver lost control on Interstate 244 between Memorial and Sheridan, hit a guardrail and a 17-year-old girl was thrown out of an SUV.

“The last thing I remember is being at a stop light, and then it goes black," said Ally Gniech.

That girl was Dustin's daughter, Ally, and he was told the driver and another passenger left the scene, leaving Ally face down in a ditch.

Dustin says the right side of her body was crushed and her spine severed. Ally was paralyzed from the waist down.

“I woke up in a hospital room. I asked why am I here? And they said you were in a car wreck,” said Ally Gniech.

By her side in the hospital, Dustin made a promise.

“That I would never leave her side...that I wouldn't go home until she goes home,” said Dustin Gniech.

Since January, Dustin put his job on hold to follow her from Tulsa, to Chicago for therapy at Shriner's Children's Hospital and back to Tulsa. He has posted daily Facebook updates, creating a picture and video diary of Ally's highs and lows during the fight of her life.

“The number one priority was prayer. And then it became where people would send in their stories to me and how her story would inspire them,” said Dustin Gniech.

Ally has inspired so many. When she got off a ventilator, when she survived life-threatening internal bleeding in a Chicago hospital, but one picture is Dustin's favorite. It shows Ally reaching a goal of hers, to visit the cloud gate sculpture, a.k.a. the Bean in Chicago.

“It was awesome because right as I got to the Bean, I went straight to the Bean and touched it and was like, ‘Yes, I did it,'” said Ally Gniech.

Back now in Tulsa she can do many things for herself, but her dad and mom still still care for her every day.

“I wasn't a family person before but after this accident, I've noticed that family is there. No matter what you're going through, all I can say is, put faith and effort into keeping going. Keep trying. There's not a point in giving up, because you can do it," said Ally Gniech.

As you can imagine, with Dustin taking three months off of work, medical bills have been piling up since January. The family tells us the best way to help is through PayPal.

To donate to the Gniech family you can visit the Paypal web page and send money to the gniech1@gmail.com account.