The parents of a Georgia high school basketball player weren’t sure their son would ever play again after he was hit by a car while crossing a street eight months ago.
But Saturday, 18-year-old Malik Spellman defied the odds when he rejoined his team on the court, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Spellman, now a senior at Wheeler High School, returned to his position as point guard when the team took on the Grayson High School Rams.
Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group. Photo courtesy of family
Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group. Photo courtesy of family
"I feel great. I'm just happy to be here. Happy to be able to play basketball right now because that's all I really wanted do while I was recovering," Spellman told Channel 2.
The game was Spellman's first time playing in front of a home crowd since the wreck, the news station reported.
RELATED: Parents worry about future of Wheeler High basketball player hit by car
"The first shot he made. I kind of had to contain my emotion because that was big for me," said his father Marquis Wright said.
Spellman's father, who is an assistant coach for the team, witnessed the horrifying scene when his son and another teen were struck by a car in a crosswalk outside the school.
RELATED: Crosswalk where students hit was studied, but no improvements made
Wheeler officials said the school was donating old weight room equipment and the teens were getting ready to load a weight rack before they were hit.
MORE: Crosswalk where car hit Cobb teens is not safe, neighbors say
They were crossing Holt Road using the crosswalk just after 7 p.m., AJC.com previously reported. As the boys carried the equipment across the road, a woman driving a black Mercedes-Benz SLK350 northbound struck them with her car, police said.
“When I got to him, he was completely knocked out. His eyes were glazed over. He looked like he was dead,” Marquis Wright previously said.
Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group. Photo courtesy of family
Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group. Photo courtesy of family
The 18-year-old spent three weeks in the hospital – at times on a ventilator – while doctors treated him for life-threatening injuries, Channel 2 reported.
“To hit someone that’s directly in front of your vehicle at that rate of speed without tapping your brakes, you had to be doing something wrong,” Wright said.
With a dozen staples in his head and another 38 in his knee, his parents feared he might never return to the court again.
Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group. Photo courtesy of family
Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group. Photo courtesy of family
“Just feels like in a lot of ways he got slighted,” his mother Tonya Wright said at the time. “I just want to get back what he lost. That’s the main thing because he worked so hard for it.”
Spellman said he is trying to focus on his future now that he is back in the game.
"It's been a hard process, but how bad I wanted it, I wanted to come back," he told Channel 2.
RELATED: Woman accused of hitting Cobb teens with car in crosswalk cited, will appear in court
Police said Nancy Valentine, 73, was driving the Mercedes. She was cited for failure to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk and failure to use due regard to avoid pedestrians.
The family's attorney told Channel 2 it is unclear if Valentine's insurance will cover all of Spellman’s medical bills.
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