High School Senior Was Going to Miss Prom, Then Hospital Stepped In

• A high school senior was going to miss her prom after undergoing surgery for a traumatic back injury she sustained during a trampoline accident   instead, she celebrated it at her Texas hospital
• “I felt like I was surrounded by angels,” Ella Walker, 18, tells PEOPLE, noting that she even got to take her back brace off for photos
• After graduation, the teen plans to attend college and become a trauma or flight nurse to help others

A Texas high schooler was treated to her very own prom while recovering from a trampoline accident back injury in the hospital.

Ella Walker, 18, was surprised by staff at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center in Shenandoah, Texas, on Saturday, April 26, with a prom organized by Trauma Survivorship Coordinator Melanie Bradshaw and other nurses at the hospital.

The high school senior — who must wear a brace 24/7 while recovering from surgery to insert rods and screws to stabilize her back — tells PEOPLE that the celebration was “like a godsend.”

“I felt like I was surrounded by angels,” she adds.

The hospital prom took place on the same night that Tomball High School’s dance was scheduled, and of course, her family, friends and her boyfriend were by her side for the big day.

Bradshaw got the idea when she saw Walker doing physical therapy in the hallway of the hospital one day.

Upon the advice of Walker’s mom, Bradshaw checked in with the high schooler first to ask if she’d like a surprise celebration. When Walker gave her a tearful “yes,” Bradshaw got to work ordering decorations and flowers for the event. Making the moment even sweeter? That same day, Walker got to go home.

Walker got glammed up for the night with the assistance of an ICU nurse who helped style her hair, and the teen even got special permission to briefly remove her back brace so she could wear her prom dress and pose for photos.

The teenager tells PEOPLE that being able to temporarily remove her brace for photos made her “feel normal” after 11 days in the hospital, nine of which she spent in the ICU.

“It’s hard to stand there and feel beautiful with this brace on because it is really ugly,” she says. “When I was allowed to take it off, it gave me a sense of like, ‘OK, this is how God meant it to be. You do look beautiful.’ ”

Walker, who is studying to become an EMT, says the accident took place at a trampoline park in April, where her cousin’s birthday was held.

After attempting a roundoff back handspring back flip, Walker, who had jumped nearly nine feet into the air, accidentally landed on her head. Afterwards, Walker couldn’t breathe or get up and says she experienced “the most intense pain I’ve ever felt in my whole life.”

Doctors told the high schooler that if she had injured herself one or two inches higher in her spine, she could have been paralyzed for life.

Walker’s hospital stay only reinforced her plans to pursue a career helping others. After high school, she will attend the University of Arkansas and hopes to become either a trauma nurse or a flight nurse.

“I’m not glad that I broke my back, but I’m glad that this whole experience happened and that I get to understand from the patient’s side and hopefully one day from the nurse’s side, as well,” she says.

Bradshaw, the trauma survivorship coordinator who helped organize Walker’s prom, felt a personal connection to the high schooler because she nearly had to miss her own prom because of an injury.

“It’s not about me, it’s not about us, but to have made somebody’s dream partially happen, to be able to give her that experience despite having her injury — just because you have an injury it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get to experience all of the great passages of life,” she says.

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Thankfully, Walker is now on the road to recovery, and tells PEOPLE she got her stitches — including 30 staples — removed as she heals from her accident.

“Every doctor or nurse that I see now is actually surprised at how much mobility [I have] and how good I’m doing,” she says, adding, “I’m so grateful to be here.”