SALT LAKE CITY — An 18-year-old aspiring singer still struggles to walk after suffering brain damage after she was hit by an alleged drunk driver in Salt Lake City last month.
“Her voice is just unmatched for her age," said Maddie Best's mother, Chelsa. "She sounds like a 40-year-old. She’s just incredible and she can do all kinds of styles of singing."
Chelsa says her daughter loves to sing.
“She’s been singing since she was a little girl. She competes around the state. Pretty much takes first place every time,” she said.
Maddie had just auditioned for the lead role in "Mean Girls," her school musical, on Sept. 19 when her aunt says tragedy struck.
“She was just driving home from her audition for that play, and was driving along 700 East and out of nowhere, a [alleged] drunk driver just came,” explained Mikelle Best.
Maddie was driving down 700 East when a driver came barreling off Interstate 80, hitting the center median and sending the vehicle airborne, right into Best's driver side door.
“We got a call from IHC, the Trauma 1 unit, and they said we’ve got your daughter, Madeline, she’s been in a car accident," Chelsa described. "Brought here by ambulance and we’re conducting all kinds of tests and she is really confused and not making a lot of sense."
"And so I had no idea what i was walking into and we got there as fast as we could and it was just the scariest thing.”
Chelsa says Maddie was released with a concussion that same night, but after not being able to walk properly for weeks, she was retested.
“She has a traumatic brain injury," said Mikelle Best. :And she’s lost hearing in her left ear.”
Maddie is now trying to find her voice again.
“It has been really tough on her emotionally because not being able to hear out of her left ear makes it very different, the way that she sounds in her head when she’s singing. So she doesn’t know if she’s sharp or if she’s flat and it’s definitely caused her some issues with trying to sing,” Mikelle said.
Out of school now for two weeks, Chelsa says her daughter remains in a lot of pain but still tries to still audition reels for college and get back to what she loves to do most.
“She got the call back after her accident that she had got the lead. So we picked up the script and she’s been able to work on it," said Chelsa. "Her memorization has been a little challenging for her. But we’re just hoping we can get her well enough to be able to perform in that in December.”
As Maddie recovers, her family wants to share a message for those hitting the road.
“Don’t get behind the car, the wheel, and put yourself and other people's lives at risk," pleaded Mikelle. "This may affect her for the rest of her life so please just make the smart decisions don’t drink and drive.”
With an expensive surgery coming up for Maddie, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay the costs.
