Glenpool High School Senior Walks Again After Surviving ATV Accident: ‘So I Had To Fight’

A Glenpool high school senior who survived an ATV accident is proving just how strong and determined she is, one step at a time.

Lexi Layton's wheelchair is not a sign of fragility.

"I don't need your, 'Oh, I am so sorry.' They are trying so hard not to break me. I am not glass," said Layton. 

Her shaking muscles are no mark of brittleness. Lexi is a walking miracle, with radiant strength, and unwavering resilience. 

"Even if the worst happens to you, you can still do it. You can still get up and hit the ground not running, but at least crawling," said Layton. 

On July 12, 2020, Layton was riding in an ATV when she got T-boned by a pickup truck. She was flown to a nearby hospital where doctors told her mom Layton had a traumatic brain injury, her jaw was broken in two places, her eye socket shattered, her cheekbone dislocated.

She also had two spinal fractures, lacerations on her kidney and spleen, bruising on her lungs, and cracked ribs.

"My arms were stuck like this," said Layton. "I worked so hard, to lay my hands out."

She went septic from infections and said there were times she wanted to give up. 

"My brothers, they couldn't handle losing a sister and my cousins and my mom and my dad. I am a daddy's girl. I am his princess and mom; she is my best friend. So, I had to fight. I had to get better," said Layton.

Layton was in the hospital 98 days. Her determination and refusal to give up didn’t end there; her work was far from over once she got home.

Her weeks are booked solid with physical and occupational therapy appointments, speech lessons. When her medical team told her she can try and walk, Layton walked until her legs give out underneath her.

Eight months later, Layton got up out of her wheelchair and walked across the field for senior night. This young woman who almost lost her life last summer is graduating high school in May.

"You will make it through, even when it feels like you want to just crawl in a hole you are going to make it and you are going to have a happy life," said Layton.

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