Circleville athlete comes full circle after crash

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) -- "It's just a hard topic to talk about,” 15-year-old Addison Edgington said, trying to smile through tears and eventually letting them fall down her cheeks. 

They weren’t tears of sadness, but rather an outpouring of all kinds of emotions: gratitude, relief, joy and, most importantly, hope. That final emotion is something Addison has held onto tightly, gripped with all her might, over the last eight months.  

“Don’t take life for granted,” she said. 

On Jan. 26,  Addison and her Circleville basketball teammates were riding high: they were an undefeated 15-0 and Addison, a star freshman on the team, had just dropped 31 points against Hamilton Township in a game three days prior. It had been years of hard work to get to that point on the basketball court; but that night, everything changed in an instant when Addison and her two friends got in a car accident. The two girls in the front seat walked away from the scene, but Addison, who was in the back seat, was ejected from the car and rushed to Grant Medical Center in Columbus and then transferred to Nationwide Children’s ICU.  

Addison’s injuries were extensive: four broken vertebrae, almost every rib was broken, kidney damage, a broken jaw in three places, six missing teeth with a seventh eventually having to be removed, a torn ligament in her neck and a tear in her carotid artery in her neck which caused an aneurysm.  

"I never want to have any parent have to deal with that,” her mother, Megan, said, thinking back on what the last almost-year has been like. “It's the worst possible feeling you could ever, ever imagine." 

Now, eight months later, Megan has somehow found a small amount of humor from the worst night of her life.  

"When you know they ask you if you remember your name because you know she had a concussion, she first told the nurses that she was Caitlin Clark,” Megan said first rolling her eyes and then laughing.  

Addison’s response honestly says a lot about who she is. Sports, especially basketball, is everything to her. It’s her dreams and goals.  

But when she arrived at NCH after the accident, it looked like those dreams and goals had disappeared and were replaced by a body brace and a bunch of metal holding her jaw together. 

"My first thought was is she going to be able to walk again? Or is she going to be paralyzed?" Megan said. 

Addison’s first thought was very different. Megan said her daughter woke up asking if she could play in Circleville’s next basketball game. Clearly, that wasn’t possible, but it set a standard.  

"I knew I was just going to play again and get through it,” Addison said.  

The comeback was on. Four days after the accident, with assistance, Addison stood for  

"And she walked a few steps,” Megan added. “Then every day she walked a little bit more." 

Addison dove into physical therapy with the same voracity she has on the basketball court.  

“She’s a very driven child,” Megan said. “Her dad and I call her the general. We have to be at school for practice or a game – it doesn’t matter – if it starts at 7, we have to be there at 6. She’s just that person who has to be there.” 

Three to four months after starting physical therapy, Addison began doing some basic volleyball drills – with her brace still on. Five months after the accident, the brace came off.  

And then almost exactly eight months post-crash, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, Addison returned to the court for her first game to overwhelming applause.  

"Emotions were all over the floor for me,” Megan said. “It was amazing. Just to see her genuine smile. I mean she puts a face on when she’s on the bench in regular clothes, but to see the real smile come through.” 

“It felt good knowing that my community and not only my community but my school has my back,” Addison said with a smile. "It was a good feeling." 

Now, Addison has her sights set on the next goal: basketball season.  

"I just love the game,” she said. “My goal is to play D1 basketball and hopefully play professional too." 

"It’s been a long journey and I cannot wait to see her don that jersey, step on the court and go,” Megan said. “She’s got big dreams and big dreams comes with hard work. She’s a good qualification of hard work but I’m excited. I can’t wait for our first home game for basketball and just to see that and have that actually come full circle.”