7-Year-Old Girl Dances in “The Nutcracker” After Tragic Accident Severed Her Feet: ‘She’s Incredible’

"If we would have waited even a few hours, the feet would have died and most certainly would have been amputated,” said Aubrey Scaletta's surgeon

A 7-year-old Virginia girl recently made a triumphant and miraculous return onstage, performing in The Nutcracker, after almost losing her feet in a devastating accident earlier this year.

On May 17, Aubrey Scaletta, her dad and twin sister were driving home from gymnastics practice when a portion of the ratchet strap that Aubrey was playing with flew out of the truck's window and attached itself to the drive shaft. Aubrey was pulled almost out of the window, and the strap severed her feet.

She was immediately taken via helicopter to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital’s trauma center, according to a press release from Carilion Clinic.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Peter Apel and his team immediately performed the reattachment surgery on Aubrey, which normally would take a week of planning and involved repairing bones, arteries, tendons, nerves and skin. Aubrey's surgery took about six hours.

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“When I got the phone call about an hour after the accident, they thought they might have to transfer her out of town, and I said, ‘Hold on a minute. If her feet are salvageable, then her best chance is here with us tonight—not tomorrow, not in six hours, but right here, right now with us,’” Apel said in a press statement.

“We had to operate quickly to re-establish blood flow and reattach her feet to her legs," the doctor added. "If we would have waited even a few hours, the feet would have died and most certainly would have been amputated.”

A GoFundMe was established for the family at the time to raise money for Aubrey's medical expenses. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had garnered over $83,000.

Following subsequent surgeries and numerous hours of rehab, Aubrey resumed walking, running and dancing, according to the press release. On the weekend of Dec. 9, with the help of a walker, she alongside her sister Grayson danced in The Nutcracker at Virginia Tech's Moss Arts Center. Before the performance, Grayson wouldn’t participate in ballet without Aubrey.

“Even now it still doesn’t feel like it really happened,” said Lauren Scaletta, Aubrey’s mother, in the release. “I remember right after she got out of the hospital, I was running an errand and I saw a little girl in a dance leotard with her mom, and it struck me that we might never be able to do things like that again. So just being here and watching her do the things she loves makes me constantly say, ‘She’s incredible.’”

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Daniel Scaletta, Aubrey’s father, added, “She is definitely a performer. She is a little ham. To see her back in her element, it’s unreal. She’s been dancing around the house for weeks in preparation, making us play the Nutcracker on TV so she can watch it. She’s probably the only 7-year-old that prefers The Nutcracker ballet to regular Christmas music.”

Aubrey's treatment and recovery will continue, according to Apel, as he and the clinic's staff will assist her in recuperating.

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“There’s nothing we can really say that would ever be enough,” said Daniel in a video interview via Carilion Clinic, praising the medical staff who treated his daughter. “They were amazing. The care that everybody showed towards Aubrey.”

“They’re definitely heroes,” added Lauren. “They really are.”

As for Aubrey, Lauren said her daughter is going to do whatever she sets her mind to. “We just kind of sit back and let her guide the way,” she said with a laugh.

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