Now she's sitting in a hospital bed with one leg, surrounded by flowers, get-well cards and balloons.

"I really wish that I was able to walk right now, because I want to get as soon as possible but I can't yet," McWeeny said. "I feel anxious to get out of this bed."

McWeeny, 20, said the wake from another boat caused her boat to capsize, and the propeller sliced her left leg.

"I remember the feeling of the boat propellers hitting me," she said."I surfaced and I had to swim to another boat to pick me up."

She was rescued and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

"I could be sad. But I'm really not," she said. "I'm just positive about it because If I am sad it's going to hold me back even more."

Her mom, Denise Salter, said she's incredibly proud of her daughter's outlook after the accident.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from Alison because she has high expectations for herself," she said.

McWeeny is expected to be released from Harborview in about a week.

She has a long road to recovery ahead, with months of physical therapy and getting used to a prosthetic leg. But she wants to share her story with others.

"Be strong, stay positive," she said. "That's all you can do to become stronger."