priest administered – Jamie Lynn Spears says a priest was called to administer last rites after her daughter Maddie, now 18, fell into a coma for two days following a 2017 ATV crash in Fluker, Louisiana—and that prayers were met when she later regained a pulse.
When Jamie Lynn Spears talks about her daughter Maddie’s 2017 ATV accident, she does it the way families remember the worst moments: in fragments that still feel physical.
Maddie was 8 years old in February 2017 when she crashed a Polaris ATV into a pond at the family home of stepfather Jamie Watson in Fluker. Louisiana. local authorities confirmed at the time. Authorities said Maddie steered the off-road vehicle to avoid a drainage ditch before the ATV plunged into the water.
In an interview with People published Wednesday. June 17. Spears said the severity of what happened led the family to call in a priest. She described last rites being administered after Maddie fell into a coma for two days following the accident. In the Catholic faith. last rites are typically administered to someone who is gravely ill or nearing death. offered as grace and strength before they enter the afterlife.
Spears said she spent that time praying hard enough that the moment she heard a firefighter’s shout landed like proof. “He comes in, and she physically sits up in all her restraints and tubes,” Spears told the outlet. “I’m screaming for the doctors. like ‘Come in here now!’ Even the priest was like. ‘I’ve never seen anything like what’s happening.’ I knew she was in there and felt all of us praying. We were given a miracle, and I don’t take it for granted.”.
She continued: “Against all odds, this baby girl fought to be here.”
As she recounts the accident, Spears said she believed she had lost her daughter. “We were watching her. and we still don’t quite know if she was dodging a dog or what it was. ” she said. “She went in the water and me. my father-in-law and my husband [Jamie Watson] ran as fast as we could to go jump in to get her out. but she was stuck under the ATV.”.
Spears said Maddie does not remember the crash, but the experience still reshaped the family. “I feel like our faith got a lot stronger,” she said. “In the end. I think such a negative experience affected us positively.” She added that the ordeal was largely why she later decided to have another child.
Spears said Maddie had begged for a younger sibling before the accident. While Maddie was in the coma. Spears described bargaining with God—asking for her daughter back even if she had to give up everything else. She recalled saying: “‘Take my arm, take my leg. I don’t care. Just give me my baby back,’ ” and later: “I was like, ‘I’ll have a baby. I’ll have whatever you want.’”.
After Maddie came out of the coma, Spears said her daughter asked a direct question that carried the same urgency as the prayers: “You going to give me that baby?”
Spears later welcomed daughter Ivey Joan Watson, 8, in 2018 with her then-fiancé, Casey Aldridge.
Jamie Lynn Spears Maddie last rites ATV accident Fluker Louisiana Jamie Watson priest coma Catholic last rites People interview Ivey Joan Watson
Priests heal now? wild.
I didn’t know it was 2 days in a coma, that’s terrifying. Also the part about “regained a pulse” like that just sounds scary but hopeful.
ATV into a pond… I swear that drainage ditch thing is always blamed. But if she got last rites and then a pulse came back, that means the prayer did it, right? Like medicine can’t bring you back if it’s that bad.
Man this is such a personal story and I feel for them. But I’m confused too—if she “fell comatose” for 2 days, was she already dead at some point or like, they just thought she was getting close? The priest never seeing it before sounds like everyone was panicking and then she sat up, which is amazing but also idk I feel like details get messy in interviews.