MUSKEGON, Mich. — Six-year-old Alayah Lee is recovering at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Muskegon after being struck by a car while walking to her bus stop last October.
WATCH: 6-year-old girl recovering after being struck by impaired driver near bus stop
The man behind the wheel, 50-year-old Christopher Bray, is a habitual offender who pleaded guilty to operating while intoxicated causing serious injury and possession of controlled substances.
Following the crash, Alayah was transported to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, where doctors determined she had a severe traumatic brain injury and took her into emergency surgery.
"She had multiple skull fractures, and a part of her skull was pressing on to part of her brain," Alayah's mom, Tara Muniz said.
Once she was stable, Alayah was transferred to Mary Free Bed to begin her recovery.
Initially, Alayah was non-verbal and could not follow commands.
But now, "It's not even a full six months, and she's already running and laughing and playing and doing all the things that we didn't expect her to do," Muniz said. "I'm in awe of her, honestly. Everything good is all bottled up in her."
Muniz says it is the fierce love of a mother that taught her to keep fighting alongside her daughter.
"Seeing her want to get better, seeing her fight… it let me know that I couldn't stop fighting for her," Muniz said.
As Alayah continues her fight to return to full function, her mother has a message for her little girl: "Life is hard, and if she can make it through this, she can make it through anything."
The family's GoFund Me is linked here.
Bray is due back in court April 1.
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