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Leah LeMaire's Remarkable Road to the Hardwood After Being Ejected in Car Accident
Posted: Feb 28, 2013 2:31 PM by Tyler Garrett - tgarrett@kristv.com
Updated: Feb 28, 2013 8:42 PM
SAN ANGELO - On Wednesday night former Carroll standout Leah LeMaire torched the A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team for 18-points and 10-rebounds en route to a 57-51 victory for her San Angelo Rams.
It was a special win for the local product, who put on a show in front of her friends and family, who savored every bucket remembering how close Leah came to never stepping on the court again.
The date was September 6th of 2010 when her career nearly came to an end following a violent rollover car accident just outside of San Angelo. Leah and a teammate flipped their vehicle six times trying to avoid a cow in the middle of the highway; LeMaire was not wearing her seat belt and was ejected.
"I broke my pelvis, both my arms, tore my ACL, my MCL, my PCL, cracked 3 ribs, punctured my left lung, I was in a pretty tough position," she said.
Her parents received a call in the middle of the night from her sister, and rushed 350 miles to be by their daughter's side. But when they walked into her room in the hospital they saw their daughter unconscious in a hospital bed hooked up to a ventilator.
"That was my worst nightmare to this point in my life, to walk in and see her in that condition I was devastated," said her father Henry.
LeMaire was stable, but her career on the court was in jeopardy. Nobody thought she would play, especially not at the college level, by Leah never gave up hope.
"You know everyone told me you wont come back the same but that made me wanna work five times as hard and you know I wasn't gonna take no for an answer," said LeMaire.
And that hard work paid off, following multiple surgeries and countless hours of rehab, she's now back at full strength averaging 10.8 points per game for ASU, while serving as the team's floor general.
"I play every game and practice like it's my last because you never know when it will be your last game," she said.
Her father also wanted to express how thankful he and Leah's mother were for all the support and the excellent medical coverage she received. Leah now speaks as an advocate for vehicle safety, and plans to speak in Kingsville and Corpus Christi.
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