Texan model Lauren Scruggs, who had her left eye and arm chopped off after she walked into a plane propeller last year, has now learned how to drive a stick shift.
Despite her life-changing injuries – she suffered a fractured skull, a broken collarbone and brain injuries during the horrific accident – Lauren Scruggs, 23, is determined to lead a normal life.
Lauren Scruggs made the announcement on Twitter on Monday.
“Randomly learned how to drive a stick shift today. It’s kind of exhilarating,” the former model posted.
Lauren Scruggs released the cover to her upcoming autobiography last month, a testament to the fact that she is moving on with her life.
Her parents confirmed in April that she was working with a journalist to help her write about the life-changing incident.
On May 15, Lauren Scruggs tweeted a picture of the cover, and affirmed her ever-present Christian faith has played a guiding role in her recovery.
She wrote: “Humbled & thankful to share the journey God has chosen 4 me. Hope it helps others learn, as I have, that He is enough.”
The cover shows Lauren Scruggs wearing a yellow top with her long blonde hair covering her left eye, which was replaced with a glass substitute after her real eye had to be removed due to the accident.
In the memoir, entitled Still Lolo, Lauren Scruggs will write alongside New York Times writer Marcus Brotherton about that fateful night of December 3, 2011.
The book, slated for release this November, will also contain segments on faith and Christian belief.
Lauren Scruggs signed with Tyndale Momentum, an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers who will be producing the reflective autobiography.
Though the book’s title makes a reference to the model’s nickname, there will also be excerpts from her parents, Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs.
The book deal, whose value is still unknown, is not the only financial gain that Lauren Scruggs will be receiving out of the incident.
It is rumored that Lauren Scruggs settled with the plane’s insurance company for more than $1 million.
According to the Courthouse News Service, the plane which injured the model was insured by Aggressive Insurance Services, along with a separate plane owned by the pilot Curt Richmond, a friend of the Scruggs family from Dallas, Texas.
Curt Richmond’s policy extended to other planes he pilots, the service said. Both have a $100,000 limit for passengers riding in the planes.
The report stated that Curt Richmond’s insurance “verbally offered” to pay Lauren Scruggs $200,000 after the December 3 accident.
Lauren Scruggs almost lost her life when she walked into the plane propeller after taking a short flight to see the Dallas Christmas lights from the sky.
She suffered a fractured skull, broken collarbone, brain injuries and lost her left hand. Two weeks after the tragic accident, doctors decided that they had to remove Lauren’s eye.
Speaking on Good Morning America in early April, her father said that his daughter recalls nothing of walking into the plane’s propeller.
“She has the courage to wake up every day and do what she needs to do,” Cheryl Scruggs told GMA.
“She’s doing remarkable.”
Jeff Scruggs chipped in, saying their daughter is still the same buoyant person.
“She has the same spunk, the same personality.”
Katie Couric, GMA’s guest host at the time, asked if Lauren Scruggs has any memory of the accident.
Jeff Scruggs responded: “The last thing she remembers is getting out of the plane.”
She first proudly displayed her prosthetic eye while out and about last month after she was pictured leaving the gym with her mother.
Her mother Cheryl Scruggs has written on the devoutly Christian family’s Caring Bridge website: “How blessed we are to see God’s Presence in Lo every single day. We never take this for granted.
“We are blessed beyond measure; blessed beyond our wildest dreams. Easy to say, hard to live.
“Not all of it appears, externally, as blessing, but <<we know that all things work together for those who love God>>, and we believe this is true.”
“I don’t know how to thank each one of you, properly, for so much love during this difficult incident in my life,” Lauren Scruggs wrote in January.
“My heart is so grateful beyond what I could ever imagine.
“Thank you dearly for the sweet encouragements, the precious words in letters and messages, the beautiful grace in pretty presents.
“But mostly I am so so thankful for you and your loving hearts and sweet spirits.”
