A Texas teenager who was pronounced dead after getting ejected from a vehicle in a horrific car crash came back to life and is now thriving after a lengthy recovery.

When Torianto “Junior” Brinson’s, La’Kisha, arrived at the crash scene, which was around the corner from her home, she feared the worst.

“There were four emergency services working on him, and he wasn’t responding, he wasn’t breathing, he wasn’t moving, he was just lying there,” La’Kisha told KTXH.

Junior was rushed to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

La’Kisha began to pray over her son’s body when she noticed that his hand moved.

“I was holding his hand, and I prayed and told him, ‘Junior, I need you!’ A minute later, I saw his hand move,” La’Kisha exclaimed.

Doctors then began working on the 15-year-old and managed to stabilize him. He spent several months in a semi-coma before he was well enough to be transferred to a rehabilitation center.

There, doctors and physical therapists worked with Junior and helped him navigate a difficult recovery process.

“He was still having trouble moving around in bed consistently. Getting up and walking was very difficult. It required two people to help him,” physical therapist Dr. Liz Larkin told the news station. “He also struggled – and it’s pretty common after an injury like his traumatic brain injury – to have noticed changes in behavior, which we expected. It actually is a good sign! It means he’s getting better, but moments of difficulty regulating impulses.”

Now, Junior has made a full recovery and has set his sights high as he starts thinking about life after high school. Despite missing a year of school, Junior is all caught up in his classes and is trying to get his life back to normal. He noted that he made the varsity basketball team and hopes to play in the NBA one day.

“I want to play for the Houston Rockets,” Junior said.