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Qian Hongyan was called a lost cause by medics after she was brutally mowed down by a trucker and had her whole body below the waste amputated.
Qian was just four when the accident occurred and doctors said it was a miracle she survived both the accident and the surgery.
Her mother Zhou Huan-ping said: "The image of my little girl disappearing under those huge wheels that were taller than she was will haunt me for the rest of my life.
"I saw her at the last second but was on the other side of the street and I was powerless to do anything to stop it."
Quan spent two years being completely immobile as she didn’t have enough body to sit up in a wheelchair.
Doctors said the only option was extensive surgery to fit her with prosthetic legs, but this would have cost cost hundreds of thousands of dollars which was impossible for Qian’s parents to afford.
After two years in hospital she was discharged at age six.
She was 18 inches tall after doctors removed her lower ribs, legs and hip joints, leaving her with just a pointed stump.
It was Qian’s grandfather who came up with the idea to fit the bottom of a basketball to her stump which would give her some mobility.
Suddenly Qian’s life changed for the better as she was able to move herself using the ball and some wooden handles.
"It was a miracle," said Zhou.
"We had struggled for almost two years with all the help modern medicine could offer us and got nowhere.
"Then from nowhere my father came up with the basketball idea and Lin was able to move again."
Then in 2005, following much attention from the Chinese press, Qian travelled to Beijing to and received free artificial limbs at the China Rehabilitation Research Centre.
Qian then began swimming and despite her swimming coach telling her that without legs she would be like a boat without a rudder.
"I had to give much more than other kids when I learned to swim," Qian told China Daily in 2011. "It seemed there was no way I could float in the water. I was choked
Now aged 18 Qian went on to win the 100 metre breast stroke at the 10th annual Para Games.
She hopes to one day compete for China in the Paralympics.
Amazingly “basketball girl” recently received her adult prosthetics from the China Rehabilitation Research Centre on her 18th birthday, bringing her one step closer to independence.
