Cape Coral teen defies odds after devastating scooter crash

CAPE CORAL, Fla. —

A 14-year-old Cape Coral girl is recovering from severe injuries after being hit by a pickup truck while riding her scooter at the intersection of Santa Barbara Boulevard and Veterans Parkway in March.

“You can see me looking. I was always careful. It's just crazy that I got hit,” Stella Piscopo said.

Stella said she remembers the crash clearly and has seen video footage of the incident.

“I thought the light was like, not really working. Like it wasn't working. Oh, when it turned green as I was going, I was like, great. And I just kind of knew that something's going to happen. Can't really stop the car from hitting you,” she said.

The collision left Stella with a brain bleed, a broken leg, and other injuries. She spent a week in a coma, but her recovery has been faster than doctors initially expected.

“She recovered so fast. She went from a coma for a whole week to waking up the next week to talking the next week, to walking the fourth week and getting out the fifth week,” said her mother, Monica Piscopo.

Stella now has a rod in her femur due to the severity of her injuries.

“There's a rod in my bone for my whole femur. Because, like, my femur bone was behind my pelvis,” she said.

While Stella is grateful to be alive, she acknowledges the challenges ahead in her recovery. Her mother remains optimistic about her progress and hopes she will return to school soon.

“I'm not as worried anymore. I mean, the hard part is over, but she's got hard work to do to get fully better,” Monica Piscopo said.

Stella offered advice to others who ride bikes or scooters near busy roads.

“Take back roads, don't take main roads. I feel like I wouldn't have gotten it if I had taken the back roads,” she said.

The driver of the pickup truck stayed at the scene and later reached out to Stella, but she said she isn’t ready to meet him yet.

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