Jamie Lynn Spears has recalled the terrifying moment she thought her daughter Maddie would die after her near-fatal ATV accident in 2017.
The 35-year-old revealed that a priest read the now 18-year-old her last rites after she was in a coma for two days following the accident.
Maddie was just eight years old when the ATV she was driving flipped over into a pond on the family's property in Fluker, Louisiana, leaving her trapped underwater for two minutes before she was freed and airlifted to the Children's Hospital New Orleans.
"The child was trapped and secured by the seatbelt and the ATV's safety netting. Within two minutes, Acadian Ambulance Service arrived and assisted in freeing the child from the cold waters," a police report stated at the time.
"That was the day I thought I'd lost my daughter," Jamie Lynn told People in a joint interview with Maddie, adding: "Against all odds, this baby girl fought to be here."
"We were watching her, and we still don't quite know if she was dodging a dog or what it was," she continued. "She went in the water and me, my father-in-law and my husband [Jamie Watson] ran as fast as we could to go jump in to get her out, but she was stuck under the ATV."
© InstagramJamie Lynn feared the worst when Maddie was pulled out of the water by first responders: "It was really not a sight anybody wants to see," she said. "At that point, she was not breathing. We thought that she had passed."
The Sweet Magnolias star recalled how they called a priest in to administer Maddie's last rites while she was comatose, and a "miracle" happened.
"He comes in, and she physically sits up in all her restraints and tubes," Jamie Lynn recalled. "I'm screaming for the doctors, like 'Come in here now!' Even the priest was like, 'I've never seen anything like what's happening.'
© Instagram"I knew she was in there and felt all of us praying. We were given a miracle, and I don't take it for granted."
Maddie admitted that she doesn't remember the accident but believes it strengthened her family's faith.
"I feel like our faith got a lot stronger," Maddie said. "In the end, I think such a negative experience affected us positively."
© InstagramShe added: "Seeing everybody rally around me, it made me realize how blessed I am. It really made me so grateful for every day."
Maddie recently graduated from high school and is heading to the University of Southern Mississippi in August to study health sciences and play softball, which Jamie Lynn credits to God giving her a second chance at life.
© Instagram"I just was so happy to have her, but how in the world did God give her back?" she questioned. "And then He gave her back in a way that she's succeeding, she's beautiful, she's kind, she's smart...I feel like I don't get to ask for anything else in life because I got the biggest blessing."
