A seven-year-old girl is finally walking again nearly one year after she was paralyzed by a rare polio-like illness.
Last year, over Labor Day weekend, Olivia Hanson, then six, came down with a sore throat and a fever.
But soon after going to the ER, she developed muscle weakness, and eventually was left completely paralyzed, reported Fox 17.
After running numerous tests, doctors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, diagnosed her with acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), an infection that causes sudden paralysis.
Olivia was on a ventilator, bed-ridden and fighting for her life, and doctors told her mother that they weren't sure if she would ever walk again.
But the elementary-schooler is back to walking and running and - despite some physical limitations - her parents say they feel like Olivia is her old self once again.
Last year, the disease struck more than 200 children across 40 US states. Some children made full recoveries, while others still remain partially paralyzed.
Olivia Hanson, seven, from Grands Rapids, Michigan, came down with a sore throat and high fever in September 2018. Pictured: Hanson, right, with her brother
Within one week, Olivia (left and right) was left paralyzed and doctors diagnosed her with acute flaccid myelitis. The rare disease affects the nervous system and most resembles the polio virus
'Maybe she has changed with her physical limitations and can't do things, [but] her spirit, her heart, is back,' her mother, Alecia, told Fox 17. 'I have my little girl.'
In September 2018, Olivia was spending Labor Day weekend playing with her friends outside, having water balloon fights and swimming in the pool.
But on Sunday, she developed a high fever. When the fever wouldn't break, Alecia took her to the emergency room at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital.
Olivia was admitted to the hospital and, about 48 hours later, her condition rapidly declined.
'I knew something was really wrong. They [called] awareness code on her and she was in respiratory failure,' Alecia told Fox 17.
'You just see your child laying
