Jamie Lynn Spears is looking back at one of the most traumatic moments of her life.

In a new joint interview with her daughter Maddie for People, the Zoey 101 alum, 35, opened up about "the day I thought I'd lost my daughter" in near-fatal ATV crash in 2017 and how "this baby girl fought to be here."

Maddie, now 18, was 8 years old at the time and driving the ATV around their Louisiana property when she lost control and ended up under water. Spears said while her mother-in-law called 911, she, her husband Jamie Watson, and her father-in-law immediately jumped into action to get her out but "she was stuck under the ATV."

Within minutes, an ambulance arrived and first responders got Maddie out of the water; however, Spears explained that her daughter "was not breathing" and the family "thought that she had passed" already. Their fears were quelled when a firefighter found a pulse and she was airlifted to a hospital.

Maddie remained hospitalized in a coma for two days and a priest was brought in to administer her last rites, but that's exactly when Spears said the "miracle" they were all waiting for finally happened.

"He comes in, and she physically sits up in all her restraints and tubes," she recalled. "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."

Maddie may not remember the accident, but she has felt the impact on her family in the years since in how they have grown stronger in their faith.

"I feel like our faith got a lot stronger," she said. "In the end, I think such a negative experience affected us positively."

The teen spoke about the experience for the first time last year in a YouTube video, saying she feels "very blessed" after being in a coma and "[coming] back to life."

Jeff Stevens

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