Teen recovering after slamming into boat, nearly dying during tubing accident on Michigan lake

WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - Two weeks ago, Aubrey Perhase was in the ICU after a tubing accident in White Lake Township that nearly left her dead.

Perhase was with a friend and her family were tubing on Tull Lake. The person driving the boat pulling her tube had to suddenly turn to avoid hitting another boat, causing the 13-year-old from New Boston to slam into a parked pontoon boat.

"I only have 50% of my kidney left and two collapses lungs. I had secondary drowning," she said.

The teen also suffered five broken ribs and a broken collar bone.

Her friend Gabby Emelian fell off the tube just before the accident.

"I got up quick and asked if she was OK. She looked at me and she said no. I walked over to her and saw the blood behind her, and I started screaming at my grandpa and my brother," Emelian said.

Emelian called 911 and Perhase was rushed to Beaumont Royal Oak, where doctors said she would stay for a month. However, a week later she was released and is making a miraculous recovery.

"I am grateful for a lot of things -- that I didn’t have any head or spinal injuries or any nerve damage. I’m very grateful that I still have my arm because it could have been a lot worse," Perhase said. 

Perhase said she is thankful for the donations that have poured in to help with medical expenses and her friends who have showered her with support and love after the crash.

"I miss them a lot when I was at the hospital. They were really good friends. They do a lot for me and everything, and I love them a lot," she said.