Glasgow's youngest bin lorry tragedy survivor: I'm playing for Scotland

But now Alix Stewart is back on her feet - and tomorrow she hopes to be shooting hoops as she plays for the first time with her beloved basketball team.

Alix was the youngest victim of the George Square bin lorry crash last December, which left six people dead.

She was caught underneath the out-of-control lorry and dragged along Queen Street before somehow working her way free.

Left with internal organ damage, broken bones, her ear torn off and damage to her back, Alix says playing basketball again was her motivation for becoming well.

And the courageous schoolgirl has defied the odds to be back with the Scotland under-15 squad for her first game this weekend.

Her dad Colin said: “Alix has been amazing - not just physically but mentally too.

“She continually pushed and pushed her doctors. She was nagging the physiotherapist for permission to start running just weeks after the crash.

“He gave it to her - and then minutes after we had left the hospital he called to say, ‘wait a minute, it’s far too soon’.

“Alix is just not the type of girl to take no for an answer - and she’s hard to say no to.”

The Evening Times first told on December 31 last year of Alix’s involvement in the bin lorry crash that rocked Glasgow just before Christmas.

Alix had been in Glasgow city centre shopping with her mum, Jacqueline, and older sister Emily, 16, before heading to the Duke of Wellington statue to meet two friends.

Moments later the bin lorry careened onto the pavement, knocking over Alix’s two friends and dragging Alix away with it.

Jacqueline received a phone call from Alix’s friend's mum to say the accident had happened.

She and Emily raced to the scene but Alix wasn’t there. While Jacqueline and Emily gave comfort to Alix’s friends, the then-14-year-old had been hit head-on by the truck. Unbeknown to Jacqueline, her daughter was lying a few hundred yards away on the box junction at Queen Street and St Vincent Place.

Alix and seven other people were taken to hospital following the smash.

She had a seven-hour operation involving four different specialist surgeons to deal with severe liver and kidney damage, fractured collar, broken rib and thigh bones, missing skin on her back and a major ear injury.

The teenager, who has an older brother Kyle, 18, and big sister Emily, 16, spent 24 hours in intensive care before being moved to the high-dependency ward of the Royal Infirmary.

Two weeks later she was home from hospital and facing a gruelling six-month regime of physiotherapy and hydrotherapy. She underwent a total of seven operations.

Alix said: “I joined the gym and was going most nights. I was on my spin bike every single night and working with my physiotherapist.

“My biggest motivation for getting back on my feet was basketball. I love playing and I was determined that I was going to join my team again.

“And I feel totally fine now.”

The girls from Lady Rocks, Alix’s Cumbernauld-based squad, have given her huge amounts of support and she’s also had encouragement from Kieron Achara of Glasgow Rocks.

Although Alix says she “feels 100%” now, Colin, from Kilmacolm, says his daughter still has a little way to go before she is at full fitness.

Just two weeks ago the Gryffe High School pupil was back in hospital to have “road tattoos” removed from her hands and she will need the same operation on her back.

Mum Jacqueline said: “Alix’s progress has been completely amazing but she still has a little bit left to go.

“When she was dragged by the lorry she got a lot of grit and surface debris pushed into her skin. The body can’t expel it naturally so the top layer of skin is lasered off and the grit removed.

“You can feel it under the skin in her back. But considering what she has been through, that’s a minor thing now.”

The Fatal Accident Inquiry into the bin lorry disaster is due to start later this month but the family said they will not be attending and will instead wait for the sheriff’s verdict.

Alix says she doesn’t fully remember what happened to her on December 22 last year and she tries not to think about it.

She said: “I really don’t think about it. I don’t like to see bin lorries now but I don’t get too affected by it. I keep my thoughts on my health.

“My mum and I went to George Square two weeks ago and it was strange, but that was it really.”

Alix, who is now 15, is playing at cadet and junior level for Lady Rocks - and is playing for the Scotland under-15 team.

She lights up with a big smile every time the sport is mentioned.

Colin said: “Alix had a small bit of court time recently and the whole place welled up.

“When she goes out on the court tomorrow for her first match since this all happened, it’s going to be really emotional.

“She doesn’t talk about the crash and I can honestly say she’s neither up nor down about it now. She is really amazing.”