PROSPER, Texas — It's been nearly five months since a Prosper High School cheerleader was paralyzed after a backyard tumbling accident.
Makayla Noble was a state championship cheerleader on her way to a college scholarship. But on Sept. 20, 2021, Noble, a junior in high school, was practicing for a homecoming pep rally performance with members of the football team in a friend's backyard.
During a routine flip, she fell and landed on her neck.
The 16-year-old said she knew the minute she hit the ground that she was paralyzed.
"When it happened, immediately after, I was trying to keep everybody around me calm," Nobel described. "It was kind of fight or flight at that moment."
"It was heart-wrenching," her mother said. "I still can't put it into words."
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She was in the ICU for three weeks and dealt with everything - from complete paralysis to her lungs collapsing. Since the accident, she's started physical therapy, and her progress has been remarkable.
"I think getting out of the ICU and moving to a rehab facility and kind of realizing, like, I'm here, and I'm with people that are in similar situations as me, and just seeing what that looks like on other people and realizing how severe my injury was kind of a surreal moment," Noble explained.
Good Morning Texas' Paige McCoy Smith recently had the chance to sit down with Nobel and her mother to talk about the moment the accident happened and how she's doing now.
Watch the full segment below:
Months ago, Noble was completely paralyzed. Now, she has feeling throughout her body and can use her arms and sit up on her own.
She credits her trainer, Tim Cook, for much of her success - and because she refuses to be told "no."
"If someone tells me I can't do something, it's kind of. It's kind of my fuel," she explained.
"Makayla’s progress has exceeded my expectation, by far, and that just goes to show her will, her grit, her work ethic," Cook agreed. "Whatever challenge that we have, she’s always ready to go over and beyond the expectation we have set before her."
Noble shared with GMT that her goal is to walk across the stage at her graduation in the spring of 2023. Cook said he doesn't have any doubt that she can achieve that.
"I pray about it and I have a peace of mind – she has that same feeling," he said. "There is not a inkling a doubt a hesitation in my mind that says she’s not going to walk, because I know she will."
And we will be there, because now it's our turn to be her cheerleaders, rooting her on as she steps into a bring future.
You can follow the teen's extraordinary journey towards healing on her YouTube channel or on TikTok @makayla noble 13."
