Alix Stewart, a Gryffe High pupil from Kilmacolm, is one of the survivors following the tragic incident in George Square on December 22 last year.

Now, after seven operations and six months of physiotherapy to learn how to walk again, the 15-year-old is fulfilling a dream to be a junior Scotland basketball player.

In an exclusive interview with Evening Times reporter Catriona Stewart, who was one of the witnesses to the terrible accident, Alix’s parents told how she is finally back on her feet.

Proud dad Colin said: “Alix has been amazing — not just physically but mentally too.

“She continually pushed and pushed her doctors. She was nagging her physiotherapist for permission to start running just weeks after the crash.

“He gave it to her — and then minutes after we had left the hospital he called to say, ‘wait a minute, it’s far too soon’.

“Alix is not the type to take no for an answer — and she’s hard to say no to.” Courageous Alix was the youngest survivor of the George Square tragedy which left six people dead and several injured.

She was caught underneath the out-of-control truck and dragged along Queen Street before somehow managing to work her way free.

Left with internal organ damage, broken bones, her ear torn off and damage to her back, Alix says playing basketball again was her motivation for getting better.

The teenager defied the odds to be back with the Scotland under-15 squad for her first game over the weekend.

Alix said: “My biggest motivation for getting back on my feet was basketball. I love playing and I was determined that I was going to join my team again.

“And I feel totally fine now.” But, despite her comeback, Alix has had to endure many painful surgeries to reach where she is today.

The youngster had a seven-hour operation involving four different specialist surgeons to deal with severe liver and kidney damage, fractured collar, broken rib and thigh bones, missing skin on her back and major ear surgery.

Alix, who has an older brother Kyle, 18, and big sister Emily, 16, spent 24 hours in intensive care before being moved to the high-dependency ward of the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow.

Two weeks later she was home from hospital to be looked after by parents Jacqueline and Colin, but had to face a gruelling six-month regime of physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.

Mum Jacqueline said: “Alix’s progress has been completely amazing but she still has a little bit left to go.

“When she got dragged by the lorry she got a lot of grit and debris pushed into her skin. The body can’t expel it naturally so the top layer of skin is lasered off and the grit removed.

“You can feel it under the skin in her back. But considering what she has been through, that’s a minor thing now.” Colin Johnson, head teacher of Gryffe High in Houston, earlier spoke to The Gazette of how the school community had been rallying behind Alix, whom he described as an “incredibly talented and genuinely lovely girl” who comes from a special family.

He added: “We have all been devastated by the tragic incident in George Square. The confirmation that Alix Stewart, one of our very own from Gryffe High, has been injured brings that even closer to home.

“Along with Colin and Jacqui, her parents, and Emily and Kyle, her sister and brother, the whole school community is rallying behind them and have sent our heartfelt thoughts and best wishes.

“Alix is an incredibly talented and genuinely lovely girl, and we will all support her and her family through the coming days, weeks and months. They are a special family, who I am proud to call friends, and I am sure their strong bond will support Alix to a speedy recovery.” A Fatal Accident Inquiry into the bin lorry disaster is due to start later this month but Alix’s family said they will not be attending and will instead wait for the sheriff’s verdict.

The accident claimed the lives of teacher Stephenie Tait, 29, tax worker Jacqueline Morton, 52, and Gillian Ewing, 52.

Dumbarton teenager Erin McQuade, 18, and her grandparents Jack and Lorraine Sweeney, 68 and 69, were also killed.