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FILLMORE — An Idaho star athlete has miraculously survived falling hundreds of feet off a cliff this week in south central Utah, the Idaho State Journal reports.

Recent Blackfoot High School graduate Michelle Pratt, a standout athlete in multiple sports, is recovering from an ATV accident that sent her over a 300-foot cliff Monday in Fillmore, Utah.

The Blackfoot teen suffered a concussion, broken left hand and fractured her sixth thoracic vertebra. Pratt also tore a carotid artery that has caused a blood clot in her brain. She is in the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she will undergo a series of surgeries for her injuries.

Despite the severity of her injuries, Michelle’s mother, Alisa Pratt, said Michelle has a good prognosis, and that doctors expect her to make a full recovery.

“She was lucky to be alive to tell you the truth,” Alisa said.

Alisa said Michelle was driving an ATV with a passenger, 20-year-old cousin Danielle Lewis, down a road with a series of switchbacks, when the vehicle’s brakes failed.

Pratt and Lewis fell over a 300-foot cliff, where they were discovered later by Michelle’s uncle, Lonnie Rasmussen. Rasmussen was driving an ATV ahead of Pratt and Lewis and began to worry when the girls did not meet him at the bottom of the road they were driving down.

“That’s when we realized something happened,” Alisa said. “They scoured the mountain, found them at the bottom of the ravine.”

Michelle was airlifted to Utah Valley Hospital in Provo before being moved to the University of Utah Hospital on Tuesday.

Lewis, of Draper, Utah, received treatment at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, for a broken femur. Alisa said Lewis was “up and walking around” Wednesday and is expected to make a full recovery. Alisa said both girls were wearing helmets at the time of the accident.

“I’m surprised they even survived with their helmets,” Alisa said.

Michelle won five individual track and field state championships and one cross country state title at Blackfoot High School. Pratt signed to continue her running career and education at Weber State University and was honored as the Idaho State Journal’s Female Athlete of the Year at May’s ISJ Sports Stars awards banquet.

Alisa said her daughter’s spine injury has affected her stability but caused no nerve damage. She said Michelle temporarily lost feeling and movement on the left side of her body because of the blood clot in her brain, meaning Michelle will have to relearn how to use the left side of her body.

“She’s going to have a lot of therapy to get through,” Alisa said.

Alisa said she is unsure how long Michelle will remain hospitalized, saying “with brain stuff, it’s just unpredictable. They don’t know. She’s probably going to be (hospitalized) for a while. They’ve got a lot of stuff they’ve got to fix.”

Alisa has been providing updates on her Facebook page, but has not set up a GoFundMe online fundraiser or reached out to the public for financial help to offset medical bills, saying “we haven’t even thought about it.” She also does not know what will happen with Michelle’s scholarship to Weber State.

“We’ll deal with it when it gets there,” Alisa said. “Not sure about that.”

However, Alisa is optimistic about Michelle’s chances at running again.

“She will, trust me,” Alisa said. “She’s about as determined as you can get.”

Alisa’s first Facebook status after the accident called Michelle’s and Lewis’ survivals “miraculous miracles.”

“This has been a night filled with miraculous miracles,” the post reads. “Thank you everyone for your prayers they have certainly been answered in many ways. God’s hand has been in this whole experience. There is no other way.”

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