Here is how Laura Raines, of New Albany, described the accident to 10TV News:

"It was in Pompano Beach, Fla., around the new millennium.  It was New Year's Eve and my dad was house sitting a condo."

"I remember going in the elevator and then I looked down and saw a checkbook, or something green, and it caught my eye.  I bent down to see more (of) what it was and then the next level the floor hit the back of my head.  It flipped me over and the elevator rolled over my face and then I fell to the bottom of the elevator shaft."

"I could hear the bones crunching in my ears and I just didn't know what was happening."

"I remember after I was on the bottom of the elevator shaft, trying to scream for my dad but he couldn't hear me because I was inside."

WEB EXTRA:  Discuss This Story; Share Your Survival Story

"The paramedics said that I was conscious the whole time but I don't remember anything after that."

"I was in surgery, I think, about 15 hours the first day, so it was pretty lengthy."

"(Paramedics) just tried to keep me stable, reconstruct some of the bones my whole face (points) this area was gone."

"My whole nose was gone and then the eye socket was completely shattered.  My pallet split in half, my upper jaw, and then I lost eight or so teeth."

"They never thought that I was going to be able to make it through even the first night, let alone even be able to walk or talk again.  I was actually only in the hospital a month.  The doctors thought that I was going to be in the hospital at least three months but my birthday was Feb. 3 and I wanted to be home by my birthday no ifs, ands or buts."

"When we got off the plane, there were people holding signs and being like, 'Welcome home, Laura!' Then on the drive home, there were all these yellow ribbons tied around all the trees in New Albany with banners that said, 'Welcome home, Laura."

"My most recent surgery was March 26, 2009.  I've had, I think, a total of 20 surgeries now, close to that.  We graduate June 11 from Columbus School For Girls."

"I also swim and I play golf and currently I'm throwing for the CSG track team.  It's tough, because I haven't been able to participate in all the sports that I've wanted to, like basketball, because all of the contact."

I'm going to "the school up north" the University of Michigan next year."

"(Doctors) expected me to have brain damage not be able to walk all kinds of different things, and when that didn't happen, I knew I had to take advantage of my situation.  I had gone through something so terrible but I was still alive and I still had a whole life to live so I'm living it."

Stay with 10TV News and 10TV.com for additional survival stories.

Previous Story:

April 30, 2009:  Ohio Man Shares Story After Shark Attack

©2009 by 10TV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.