Teen survivor of fatal Peoria crash left paralyzed shares recovery journey

PEORIA, AZ (AZFamily) — A Grand Canyon University student is accepting her new normal and counting her blessings after surviving a fatal crash in Peoria two months ago.

“I would say it's a near-death experience, as it was for everyone else involved in the car accident,” Zalia Oliva said.

For two months, the house of Oliva, 18, has become a hospital room.

Her walls are covered with prayer notes for her recovery after a car accident she survived.

“I prayed for all the families affected by the car accident. I prayed for all the children first, then I prayed for the family, friends and everyone around them,” Oliva said.

In April, Peoria police said a driver ran a stop sign in a neighborhood before crashing into a cinder block wall and hitting a house.

“I don’t remember anything until the last week in the ICU, and I was there for about a month,” Oliva said.

Zalia is one of four people who police say were seriously injured inside the car.

No one in the home was injured, but investigators say two other passengers, Shane Johnson, 20, of Tempe, died at the scene and Aiden Ellis, 19, of Peoria, died after being transported to the 'hospital.

Oliva said she had been dating Johnson for a few months. He has been described as outgoing, kind and hardworking.

Oliva learned Johnson didn't survive a week ago.

“I think sometimes I accept that, but I think I also blur that part at the moment,” she said.

Police are still investigating the causes of the accident.

According to investigators, at the last check, the driver was still hospitalized.

Although Oliva and her mother, Rozlyn Sturtevant, are grateful to be alive, her life changed in a split second.

” I can not walk. I’m paralyzed,” Oliva said. “I’m able to move my arms. (I have) a little bit of thumb movement. Not a lot. Just to my right and in my head.

Zalia said his back, jaw, neck, ribs and other parts of his body were broken.

She spent several weeks in the ICU at HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center in Phoenix while hooked up to a ventilator.

When she was no longer intubated, she spent a few weeks at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center – Select Specialty Hospital, learning to breathe and eat again.

She is now at the Barrow Neurological Institute, where she undergoes daily physical therapy to regain as much strength as possible in her upper body.

“My main goal is to get back into the gym. That’s literally all I want,” she said.

Oliva loved going to the gym before the accident.

Photos of her working out are now plastered on the wall of her hospital room.

“It just shows his resilience, his determination. I mean, she’s fierce,” Sturtevant said.

Sturtevant has been by her daughter's side every day since she received the first call about the accident.

“The first week or two, we weren’t sure she would make it,” Sturtevant said. “It’s heartbreaking, and I’m incredibly and beyond grateful that she’s still here.”

Oliva, whose home is in California, was a freshman at GCU studying criminal justice so she could join the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT.

She now hopes she can find another way to serve and protect, a goal she will not abandon.

“She’s a fighter. She’s determined and that comes from her,” Sturtevant said.

The road to recovery was difficult, but Oliva and her mother said they enjoyed an outpouring of support from family and friends who visited her, and from people at her church in California and Arizona continued their prayers for his recovery.

“It’s really what unites us,” Rozlyn said. “The only thing that helped us was faith, our faith in God, our faith in Jesus. This is the ultimate test of surrendering and relying on your faith.

Oliva hopes to be released from the hospital in about two weeks and continue his treatments at home.

Since her mother can't work while staying with Zalia since the accident, they are raising money to cover medical costs.

If you would like to help with Oliva's recovery, you can click/tap here.

Families of other victims also have GoFundMe accounts.

This one is for Johnson's family, while this GoFundMe is for one of the passengers.

Another victim is still recovering and a GoFUndMe has been set up for her.

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