Makayla Noble: Cheerleader, 16, paralysed and on a feeding tube after freak tumbling accident

Makayla Noble is on a ventilator and is being fed through a tube, her family say

A 16-year-old cheerleader from Texas who was left paralysed after a freak accident has been placed on a ventilator but is making “good progress”, her family says.

Makayla Noble suffered a severe spinal injury that left her paralysed from the waist down and unable to move her hands while practicing a “tumbling” exercise on 20 September.

Ms Noble has been placed on a ventilator and is being fed through a tube, and doctors have been treating a partially-deflated left lung.

Family friend Tiffany Smith revealed Ms Noble has been told she won’t walk again.

In an update posted to Facebook on Monday, the family said they were “feeling some disappointment”.

“Makayla’s left lung is partially deflated again and her medical team has decided to put her back on the ventilator, install a PEG (feeding tube) for nutrition, and also put in a tracheotomy tube to suction her lungs and keep the left lung from drooping,” the family wrote.

“Mak needs all of her prayer Warriors to come together and pray for healing!”

Makayla Noble is unlikely to walk again, a family friend says (Facebook.com/Makayla’s Fight)

On Tuesday, the family provided an update to say Ms Noble was “slowly making good progress”.

“She was able to participate in physical therapy today ... for the first time in three days. Her fever is gone and her white blood cell count is dropping. All good things that help her move towards rehab,” the family said.

“For now she is receiving oxygen during the day and going on the ventilator at night to allow for more rest/healing.”

Tumbling is a gymnastics exercise in which participants perform a series of acrobatic skills down a 25-metre sprung track.

The family have said the accident occurred in the backyard of a friend of Ms Noble.

A GoFundme page set up to assist with the cheerleader’s medical costs has so far raised more than $160,000.

“Makayla is a world-class athlete. She’s trained by the best of the best at Cheer Athletic,” family friend Ms Smith told Fox4 after the accident.

“This was a freak accident in somebody’s backyard. This was not a cheer practice. This wasn’t on a mat with a coach.”