SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Sylvia Bogusz, the 17-year-old critically injured by a drunken driver, is talking for the first time in four months.

After surgery last week, Bogusz suddenly started speaking Sunday, answering questions posed by her brother, Sebastian.

Prior to that, she had smiled at family members but had only said one word while in her bed at Rhode Island Hospital: Hi.

“She was smiling and talking,” her mother, Grazyna Chylinska, said this week. “She was saying Momma. She was saying she was in the hospital. It has been such a long, long time.”

Doctors performed surgery last week to remove excess spinal fluid.

On Monday, Bogusz was moved to the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, which specializes in brain and spinal cord injuries.

Bogusz was struck on June 23 after she drove her car with a flat tire onto the shoulder of Route 1. The honor roll student flicked on her emergency lights, got out of the car, walked to the grassy shoulder and called her mother.

Shortly after, Heidi Harrall, 45, struck Bogusz while driving more than 90 mph, the police said.

Harrall was driving south on Route 1 when she tried to pass a car, crossed the yellow line, swerved and lost control of her car. She then drove onto the shoulder, where Bogusz was standing, the police said.

Chylinska was the first to find Bogusz, unconscious and bleeding in the southbound lane of Route 1, 100 feet from where she was struck.

Bogusz suffered a head injury and broken bones. Last month she battled pneumonia for two weeks, her mother said.

A raffle was recently held to help pay Bogusz’s medical bills.

pdavis@projo.com / (401) 277-7402