She was told she'd never walk and likely never breathe on her own again, but Sevgi Yildiz has defied the odds.
In November last year, the 13-year-old dived into shallow water at Auckland's Omaha Beach - a simple summer swim that changed her life forever.
She recalls floating lifeless in the water, unable to move with her eyes closed, after a "big shock".
"I thought I died like, 'Oh my gosh am I like gone, like what happened?'"
Sevgi was pulled out of the water by her mother Slavka before being rushed to Starship Hospital by helicopter. X-rays revealed a fractured bone high in her spine and part of her spinal cord was crushed.
The St Kentigern student was relying on a ventilator to breathe and had no feeling from the neck down. She feared she wouldn't improve.
"The first month was like, 'I could be stuck like this.' I could not talk, I could just not even move, like, 'Wow - what if I'm just like this for ages?'"
Two weeks after the accident Sevgi's condition hadn't changed, and a team of specialists delivered tragic news to her parents.
"They told us that she will never walk, she will never move, maybe she will have a little twitch, she won't be able to breathe on her own, she will depend on the ventilator," mother Slavka Yildiz recalls.
"[They were] expressing worry for us as a husband and wife, that a lot of people separate in these kinds of circumstances. They were worrying about us, and suggesting to us to let her go."
At least two specialists said they were certain she'd never regain functional movement in her arms or legs, and she'd likely always need the ventilator to breathe. They recommended allowing Sevgi die through a process known as "allowing natural death".
Despite the devastating diagnosis Sevgi and her parents fought on, and after weeks of no improvement, she began moving for the first time.
"We were so excited beside her bed," Slavka recalls.
Over a period of days just over five weeks since the accident, Sevgi moved her torso, fingers, toes, legs and feet. She was discharged from hospital in February, and is continuing to recover today.
She has an admirable response to proving the experts wrong.
"I just needed to have a little bit of faith in myself and think that, 'Wow, I can do this now,' and obviously they probably didn't think that I can, it feels quite great to do that."
The relevant district health boards declined to comment, citing ethical and privacy reasons.
Slavka says she still has many unanswered questions.
"I don't know why they feel that through their experience two weeks is long enough to give someone her age, to say, 'Okay, that's it.'"
In an email, one of the specialists told Slavka her daughter's case is "incredible" and "truly remarkable", and her recovery is changing the way they approach spinal cord injuries, especially in young people.
The doctor wrote that these types of injuries have unpredictable recovery patterns and "all too frequently we see poor to no recovery".
Sevgi is now riding a bike, jogging and planning to head back to school. Tickets to see Harry Styles next year have also been purchased, but she knows her journey isn't over yet.
"I have to say I'm quite thankful that I ended up in hospital, because - it sounds weird - but I just realised being there I didn't really appreciate how I have a life and I didn't even acknowledge anyone for that."
Sevgi says her accident has opened her mind, a quality her mother admires.
"It is a miracle, and I know that deep inside, even though she seems like this sassy teenager and she is so out there; it's not a finished journey, we still carry on, and I would love to help anyone who is in a situation like this."
They are sharing Sevgi's story to show that sometimes against the odds, good things can happen.
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