MILLSTONE — Watching Ariana McGuire run around today, it was hard to believe the 8-year-old girl was near death last summer.

Ariana, who suffered a stroke and bleeding that resembled an aneurysm after a metal-tipped arrow pierced her brain last July, was jumping in the inflatable bounce house at a picnic in her honor.

Eight surgeries and numerous other procedures later, 275 people attended the picnic celebrating Ariana’s "miraculous" recovery and the medical staff at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Level 1 Trauma Center in New Brunswick who made it possible.

"You’re looking better than the last time I saw you," emergency medical technician Timothy Ring, the first on the accident scene in Bridgewater, told Ariana.

"I’m doing a little better," shrugged Ariana. "I had a boo-boo."

Ariana’s casual demeanor was not shared by her mother, Luciana, of Bridgewater, who was in tears as she hugged Ring and thanked him.

"She looks phenomenal, right?" Luciana McGuire asked. Indeed, a faint scar on the left side of Ariana’s forehead is the only visible trace of her injury.

Sudipta "Sid" Roychowdhury, an interventional neuroradiologist at Robert Wood Johnson, performed the first six surgeries, putting catheters from Ariana’s leg to her brain to stop the bleeding.

A neurosurgeon, Shabbar Danish, performed the last two operations, which were similar to removing bullets from the brain, Roychowdhury said.

"It helped that she’s young and can heal quickly," Roychowdhury said.

Ariana was in good spirits as the guest of honor during the hospital’s first-ever "Amazing Saves" picnic held at the Black Bear Lake Country Club in Millstone.

"It’s for me. I’m gonna party. Party like a rock star!" she said.

Ariana, a music fan who says she has "Bieber fever" for teenage pop sensation Justin Bieber, got to hear the DJ play one of her favorite songs, Bieber’s "Baby."

Ariana said she also enjoys watching television and playing video games.

Her father, Mitchell McGuire, said of his daughter, "Compared to where she started, it’s nothing short of a miraculous recovery, but she’s nowhere near where she used to be.

"Mentally, she’s there. She has her attitude back. Ari was always a spunky, fired-up kid. When it happened, they didn’t expect her to make it through the night," he added.

Ariana had walked in front of a boy who was shooting at a target and his arrow struck her between her nose and right eye.

The stroke made Ariana lose most of the function in her right side. Formerly right-handed, she can’t use her right hand and had to learn how to use her left hand to write and for everything else, along with learning how to walk, talk and read again.

Her father said he and his wife also had to teach Ariana "the difference between right and wrong" again.

Ariana is going to the Children’s Specialized Hospital facility in Fanwood three days a week for cognitive rehabilitation, occupational and speech therapy, and tutoring in academic subjects. Her parents are researching schools for children with disabilities that she might attend in the future.

Although Ariana is "very happy" most of the time, she tires easily and "sometimes she gets a little sad" when she realizes her physical limitations, her mother said.

For example, Ariana’s twin, Briana, took golf lessons, but Ariana couldn’t fully participate because she can’t use her right side and had to learn about one-armed golf.

Previous coverage:

• Somerset County girl recovers from brain injury caused by arrow accident

• Arrow strikes Bridgewater 7-year-old girl in face