'The Lord & a seatbelt' saved Myah Epps: On life, basketball following near-fatal crash

Myah survived, suffering two broken vertebrae, a cracked rib — which left a small cut on her lung — a dislocated thumb and a banged-up shoulder.

She is in the midst of a months-long recovery and while some life changes will be required (no jerky roller coasters or tubing, for instance), doctors do not expect there to be a long-lasting impact on her daily life and she will be able to play basketball again. In fact, Louisville coach Jeff Walz reaffirmed the program's commitment to Myah within a couple days of the crash. She plans to move down in July.

"It's obviously difficult some days, but honestly, I've been fine about it," Myah says as she finishes picking the blueberries from her berry parfait.

"It's definitely hard sometimes, just thinking about how hard it's gonna be for me to get back to where I was before, but I know I can do it," she continues. "(This) is not going to stop me from doing what I love and that's definitely helping me get through it."

'Please don't take her from me'

Myah is settling in for an on-camera interview at her grandparents' house when conversation shifts to cell phones. The high school senior hoped to get an upgraded iPhone following her ordeal, but a couple days after the crash, a Walgreens employee searched the parking lot and found her phone and garage door opener lying in the grass.

"Still to this day, not a scratch on my phone," Myah groans. "It was insane."

Myah's phone was likely thrown from the car as it rolled toward the building, which triggered an automated text message to her emergency contacts, alerting them that a crash had been detected and sending her location.

A text message sent automatically from Myah Epp’s phone to her mother when she was in a car accident. The text is pictured Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

Danielle was about to leave for work when the text came through.

She's normally "pretty calm" in those situations but when her calls to Myah went unanswered, "I was freaking out."

Thirty minutes away at Woodside Middle School, Lonnie had left his phone in his classroom while he greeted students in the hallway. He returned to a couple missed calls from his wife.

Danielle was hysterical, Lonnie recalled, and after his attempts to reach Myah were unsuccessful, he found the same automated message and location pin in his notifications.

Lonnie was closer to the reported crash site than Danielle, so he grabbed his coat and took off.

"The entire time I'm driving, I just keep saying, 'Please don't take her from me. Please don't take her from me.'"

'The Lord and a seatbelt'

There was nothing out of the ordinary the morning of March 13, 2026.

Myah remembers ordering Starbucks as she got ready and capturing footage for a day-in-the-life TikTok. "I just felt like being an influencer that day, I don't know," she laughed.

She remembers listening to music and enjoying the drive as she approached a green light at the intersection of Gaetz Road and W. Jefferson Boulevard, about seven or eight minutes from Homestead High School.

And she remembers the impact of another car violently slamming into her on the driver's side.

Myah doesn't really remember anything after that.

There is no video footage of the crash, at least none that the Epps family is aware of. The only visual evidence they have are the photos Danielle took of Myah's mangled car.

Myah Epps shows a photo from her car following the crash Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

Myah was driving on W. Jefferson Boulevard when she was t-boned by an oncoming car attempting to turn left onto Gaetz Road.

"The locals know that light," Danielle says, Myah beside her expressing her displeasure with the intersection. "It's a tiny space, so if there's a (solid) green light, people try to floor it, because sometimes there's not enough space for cars turning left, which can clog the road."

Myah's vehicle rolled three times, ending up on the sidewalk just three feet from a nearby Walgreens.

The driver of the other vehicle refused medical attention for both herself and her two-year-old daughter.

"It was the Lord and a seatbelt. That's what saved Myah's life," Lonnie says.

Myah had already been pulled from the car and loaded into the ambulance when her dad arrived. She remembers looking down for "a split second" and seeing her dislocated thumb and bloodied clothes. And she remembers Lonnie talking to her in the ambulance, but being unable to react or respond.

"(He was) telling me that he was there and to not panic, because everything was going to be OK," Myah says. "Obviously I was in shock at that point, not really knowing what was going on, but that's really all I remember him saying. He was hysterical and I don't hear my dad like that ever, (which) made me really sad.

"It broke my heart."

'She won. She's still here.'

Danielle begins sharing one of their favorite anecdotes from Myah's hospital stay when her daughter interrupts. The two playfully bicker over who should tell the story before reaching an unspoken agreement to take turns.

As it goes, a drugged-up, post-surgery Myah mistook her surgeon for one of her nurses and, "Myah being Myah," asked if he could adjust the tube running along the side of her head.

It was so annoying, Myah recalls. "I hated it, so I was trying to ask him for help."

"We tell her, 'Myah, this is the doctor who did your surgery.'"

Myah Epps (right) stands in line to order at Chick-fil-A with her mother Danielle Epps on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Myah Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

Myah picks up the story from there: "I literally started bawling and I grabbed his hand and said, 'Thank you so much. You saved me.' He (made a face and) was like, 'OK.'"

"One minute she's treating him like he's a nurse and the next thing, she was thanking him for saving her life," Danielle laughs.

Among Myah's injuries was a gash that ran from above her right ear to near the right side of her eye. It was so deep that part of her skull was exposed and required 13 staples plus facial sutures to close, she says while pointing out the faint scar it left behind.

More concerning, though, was an unstable fracture of the C6 and C7 vertebrae at the base of her neck. Surgery was required and Myah's doctors in Fort Wayne recommended she be airlifted to IU Methodist in Indianapolis, whose team of specialists work with IndyCar drivers.

As Danielle recounts her and Lonnie's drive to Indy — a three-and-a-half-hour slog through 60 mph winds — Myah scrolls for photos on her phone.

She first pauses on an image from the crash site, noting the blood splatters on the sidewalk leading to the wreckage, then continues on to the x-rays.

"This is so fun. I love this. It's like show-and-tell," she quips.

The before scans were taken shortly after the crash Friday morning and document the misaligned vertebrae from two different angles. The second set of x-rays is brighter, illuminated by the three rods and 14 screws that were fused to Myah's spine during a six-hour operation the following afternoon.

Myah Epps (left) hugs her father Lonnie Epps as he arrives at her physical therapy appointment on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Myah Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

The surgery was supposed to only last 3-4 hours, Danielle recalls, but the doctor was "very, very particular" and constantly measuring. "They kept mentioning from the get-go that she was a college athlete. I think they were being a little more precise to make sure she could play again."

It will take at least a year before Myah is fully recovered, but she is expected to have full range of motion — save for a little lost rotation in her spine, and that can be made up for by quickening her feet and hips.

"I mean, she won. She's still here. She got banged up a little bit, but she's still here and we love her to death," Lonnie says. "I'm getting choked up thinking about it right now, but she is (still here). We just — we love her. I don't know what we would have done if it turned out a different way."

'The first good day'

There is one video from her initial recovery that Myah is particularly proud of. Taken the day after she was moved from the ICU, it shows her walking down a hospital hallway under her own strength, enthusiastically greeting all the nurses she befriended during her stay.

After having to ask for help with everything the previous few days, she was finally regaining some of her independence.

I'm walking! I'm walking! I can do it!

Myah was discharged later that day, exactly one week after the crash.

"I felt so accomplished," she says. "This could have been so much worse and there I was, walking by myself. That was probably the first good day."

Myah Epps puts on her back brace as she participates in physical therapy Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at Fortify Physical Therapy in Fort Wayne, Ind. Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

Myah scrolls her phone for photos while highlighting other moments from her week-long hospital stay.

Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz stepped away from NCAA Tournament preparations to visit Myah the Tuesday after her crash.

Get your mind right. Get your body right, he told her. Don't worry about basketball. You'll have everything you need from us.

"That eased my soul," Myah says. "They believe in me and want to support me getting to my goals and being able to play at Louisville. And that's so awesome. I really love it there."

The Homestead senior stops on another photo, this one of a FaceTime call with Valparaiso senior Lillian Barnes. Myah randomly video-called a number of friends from her laptop, and caught Barnes mid-workout. "It was so funny," she laughs, later mentioning another friend who flew back from California for break — and went directly to see Myah at IU Methodist.

In a separate interview, Lonnie and Danielle recall a visit from Triton Central senior Maryrose Felling the morning of their daughter's surgery. Felling, who was supposed to go on a spring break trip with Myah, stopped by with "a ton" of Chick-fil-A for the Epps, who had set up their "own little living room" in the ICU waiting room.

Myah credits her parents with doing a "really good job" keeping her off social media, but she managed to sneak a "really fast" look and was "immediately overwhelmed" by the outpouring of support.

Tributes from around the country were posted online, while a GoFundMe page established by longtime family friend Erin Hopkins raised more than $54,000 from 495 different donors. Among the contributors: Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs. Myah's still not entirely sure how the Gonzaga product learned of her story, but she's certainly grateful.

"You don't realize how many people truly love you and support you until something like this happens," she smiled. "That was really cool to see."

Myah Epps (center) stands with her father Lonnie Epps and mother Danielle Epps at her grandparents home Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Myah Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

Those snapshots of positivity helped Myah persevere through some especially dark days.

There were times when she felt like she was "drowning" in negativity, aggravated with her situation and overcome by thoughts of "why me;" frustrations further fueled by her continuous and immense pain.

Myah didn't know what to do or where to turn. She began entertaining the idea that she brought it upon herself, questioning what she did earlier in life to deserve this.

"It was tough hearing those words: 'Dad, why me? I'm a good kid. I don't do anything wrong,'" Lonnie says. "I said, I don't know why it happened. We can't question it. We just have to deal with it up front and attack it from here."

Returning to basketball

Myah felt a wave of emotions as she approached the blue plastic-tiled basketball court at Fortify Physical Therapy.

It was mid-April, five weeks since her crash, and she was about to pick up a basketball for the first time, cleared to dribble and pass with her dad under the supervision of Solomon 'Solo' Asiedu, a physical therapist assistant.

"It didn't feel real," Myah says.

Lonnie wipes away tears as Danielle describes the emotions of the moment and how their faces lit up. Basketball has always been "their thing," she says, a passion her husband has shared with Myah since she was four.

"That brought me so much joy," Myah beams. "I'll remember that for the rest of my life."

Myah Epps passes the ball during physical therapy Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at Fortify Physical Therapy in Fort Wayne, Ind. Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

Myah's passing a basketball at Fortify again a week later, this time with Asiedu as part of a step-up exercise and with blood flow restriction (BFR) cuffs — specialized bands that promote muscular strengthening without an extreme load — wrapped around both thighs.

"You think you could be an actor?" Asiedu asks Myah, continuing their conversation about movies.

"Maybe. I don't think I could memorize all the lines," she replies. "But learning all the different languages and things would be fun."

Myah's first day of physical therapy involved breathing exercises and working on her core so she could sit and stand up without having to use her upper-back as much.

By the end of her second appointment, she was sitting down and standing up on her own.

Myah's "a little bit" ahead of schedule, Asiedu says. But her dedication is unmatched.

"She'll have her days when she really wants to be on her phone and not doing some of the stuff we're doing, but that doesn't mean her effort diminishes at all," he explains. "She's always high-effort — just maybe not smiling ear-to-ear like she is all day today…"

Hey, I'm usually pretty smiley!

"But she is pretty smiley."

Myah completes another 90-second interval before switching to arm cuffs and preparing for a series of angled push-ups against the box.

Myah Epps (left) passes a ball back and forth with physical therapist assistant Solomon Asiedu as she participates in physical therapy Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at Fortify Physical Therapy in Fort Wayne, Ind. Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

"There was this grown man on the treadmill here the other day who was like, 'Are you really doing double (BFR)?'" she says. "I was like, 'Yeah, I do this every day.' I thought it was normal, but I guess not."

"Well, when you're getting buckets on the court, you'll know why," Asiedu replies before letting Myah know she'll be shooting layups at the end of this appointment — but this time, he'll be guarding her.

"Solo has big goals for me and he pushes me, which is how I like to be coached," she says following her PT appointment. "He doesn't make things easy and that's helped me continue getting better. … I'm making progress every week."

Hoping for closure

The midday lunch rush at Chick-fil-A is in full swing with the occasional wails of an increasingly grumpy infant piercing through the overlapping sounds of the busy dining room.

While Myah opens her box of chicken nuggets, Danielle recalls one of the first things her daughter asked them at the hospital.

"How's the other person? How's the other person?"

"Oh, I heard about the two-year old," Myah quickly clarifies.

Well, it was both, her mother responds.

Myah is still processing her emotions over what happened the morning of March 13. It was outright anger in the days and weeks that followed, her hostilities directed at the other driver.

"I didn't understand why they (did) what they did; why they made the decision to turn into me," Myah explains after lunch and physical therapy. "But I can't hold that over for them forever and I can't have that hatred, that anger in my heart towards them forever, because I know that could have happened with anybody."

Myah Epps (right) is driven to her physical therapy appointment by her mother, Danielle Epps, on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Myah Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

The 18-year old has done her best to find perspective. People make mistakes and this one could have been a lot worse, she says. Everyone is alive and her dreams of playing college basketball are still in front of her.

How long did it take you to get to the point where you could start letting go?

"Until now."

"It's been a long process," continues Myah, who has been seeing a therapist to help her navigate the mental side of her recovery. "I've been talking to my mom a lot and she's put it in my head that I can't stay in that place forever. I can't be angry with (the other driver) forever. I have to slowly but surely get over it. And I still — I can't even honestly say I'm fully over it, but it's gotten a lot better."

The other driver has not reached out since the crash, according to Myah, "but hopefully we'll get that closure at some point."

'I got better today'

The Epps can only make it a few steps at a time before someone else stops them.

Myah! We're so happy to see you!

They are in Knightstown for the Hoosier Gym All-Star Classic, Myah's first basketball event since the crash.

The Louisville-bound senior doesn't know everyone who approaches her, but she warmly interacts with each individual. When she finally makes it to the court, she's welcomed by the other participants, all equally excited to see her.

"It's her and her personality," Lonnie proudly says. "She lights up the room when she walks in."

Unbeknownst to Myah, event organizers have a surprise planned for her: They want her to begin the game with an honorary layup.

"I was so nervous," Myah recalls. She's seen plenty of these moments on social media, but was never part of one herself. What if she missed?

Lapel's Laniah Wills tapped the opening tip back to Center Grove's Gracyn Gilliard, who lobbed a perfect pass to her close friend on the other end of the court. Myah took one dribble and banked in the perfect layup. The nine other players gathered around to congratulate her before she walked off to a standing ovation.

"That really helped her and it helped us a little bit, too," Danielle smiles.

Myah has come to realize she was taking basketball for granted.

She felt "invincible," immune to the possibility of her sport ever being taken away from her. Basketball defined her and when it was taken away, she was lost.

"One thing I would tell people now, even though it's early on, is that you need to find something that is not basketball, something completely unrelated," Myah says. "So if basketball does get taken away, you have something to fall back on so you're not drowning and not in a depressive state, (unsure) of where to turn to, because your whole life has been basketball."

"That's where I was at," she continues. "And I'm still — I'm still there."

Life without basketball is difficult, but Myah has been branching out, finding other activities to help pass the time. She's reading more and wants to start learning American Sign Language. "My mom taught me how to sign the alphabet and it would be cool to be able to just whip it (ASL) out," she grins.

Myah's relationship with religion has evolved, as well. She's found a community at her church that breathes life into her, while reading the Bible has changed her perspective and "shown me how God really can work miracles."

"That's really what this is," continues Myah, who drove for the first time in late-April. "It is a miracle that I'm still here and that I'm mobile and able to do the things that I'm able to do."

As Wednesday's physical therapy session concludes, Solo has Myah do one more hand-eye coordination exercise, tossing tennis balls with her as they walk across the floor. After the first few steps, a devilish grin sweeps across Myah's face and she begins randomly bouncing her passes at varying speeds.

Myah Epps dribbles a basketball as a part of physical therapy Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Fort Wayne, Ind. Myah Epps was in a car accident March 13 that left her with injuries, including two broken vertebrae and a cracked rib.

(Christine Tannous/IndyStar)

Oh, so that's how we're doing it? Solo laughs before beginning to do the same, catching Myah off-guard on a couple occasions as they finish their final rep.

I officially won today, he jokes.

"You know, I don't care," Myah replies as she picks up a basketball.

"I got better today."

******Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.****Get IndyStar's high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Myah Epps, Louisville basketball commit, on recovering from near-fatal car crash