“My neurosurgeon had to hold my skull in place with his hands,” said Megan King

An Illinois woman is detailing her remarkable and lengthy recovery journey after being internally decapitated in a life-changing accident. Megan King was 16 years old when she fell to the ground while trying to jump and catch a soccer ball during her high school gym class. The accident, which occurred in 2005, left her with damage to her right ankle and spine. She also tore the muscle off both shoulder blades, according to the Daily Mail. Per the outlet, King spent more than a year on crutches, but her condition got worse instead of better, causing her unbearable pain. Over the years, she underwent 22 surgeries but doctors were left stumped as she was unable to heal properly. In 2015, doctors finally diagnosed King with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS). Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a group of inherited disorders that affect your connective tissues — primarily your skin, joints and blood vessel walls, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms include overly flexible joints and stretchy, fragile skin. The most common type of the disorder is hEDS, and people diagnosed with it often deal with joint pain and easy dislocations.

A year after her diagnosis, King was fitted for a halo brace to stabilize her neck and spine. However, while removing the brace, she was internally decapitated, per the Daily Mail. Atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD) — also known as orthopedic decapitation or internal decapitation — occurs when ligaments and/or bony structures connecting the skull to the spine are damaged, according to a paper published in the World Journal of Orthopedics. “I flew my chair back to keep gravity from decapitating me,” King, now 35, told the Daily Mail. “My neurosurgeon had to hold my skull in place with his hands. I couldn’t stand. My right side was shaking uncontrollably.” AOD is typically fatal, with 90% of cases resulting in immediate death. However, doctors were able to rush King into emergency surgery and perform a spinal fusion to reconnect her skull and spine. The bones are fused together and heal as one. “It was a horror show,” she recalled, per the outlet. “I woke up unable to move my head at all.”

King was able to survive the harrowing ordeal, but has since had 37 surgeries in her recovery journey. The accident left her fused from her skull down to her pelvis, and she can no longer shift her head in any direction. “I’m literally a human statue,” she said. “My spine doesn’t move at all. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped living.”

According to the U.K. publication, doctors told King that her internal decapitation was likely due to a combination of her fall in high school as well as her weakened joints from living with hEDS.

Now, 20 years later, King is slowly but surely starting to return to her normal activities, boasting that she was able to go bowling recently. “I bowled a strike — on my very first try. My friends screamed and clapped and cheered like wild. They weren’t just celebrating the strike. They were celebrating everything I’ve survived,” she said, per the outlet.

King added, “I’m still learning what my new body can do. It’s not easy, but I’m adapting. And I’m always surprised by what I can still accomplish.”