A PASSIONATE mother whose child survived against the odds after being run over by a car, has a vision to open a new centre for other brain injury victims and their families in the Tees Valley.

It was three days after Abbie Thornton’s fourth birthday when she was involved in a life-changing accident while walking with her teenage brother near her home in Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough.

Paramedics told her parents that she had died at the scene but managed to be resuscitated before her heart stopped beating again in the ambulance – Debra and Tony Thornton were warned to expect the worst.

After bolts were inserted into their little girl’s head to relieve pressure on her brain she was slowly weaned off life-support and was able to breathe for herself after an excruciating six hours. But the joy was bittersweet for her parents who were told that, although she would survive, she would never walk or talk again.

It was news that Mrs Thornton, a mother of four, refused to accept, and started to research acquired brain injuries on the internet to give her youngest the best chance of a fulfilling life.

After three or four months of intensive rehabilitation Abbie said her first word. Determined to join in with all her friends she learnt to skip and ride her bike and, now 15, the talented singer is working hard for her GCSE exams at Polam Hall school in Darlington, where she is thriving.

“We are so incredibly proud of her,” Mrs Thornton said. “Nobody should be written off ever. I was told by professionals that she would not achieve any of these things, that I would be her carer for the rest of her life.”

Now a trustee on the board of Headway Darlington & District, Mrs Thornton said the charity was aiming to create a centre in Darlington offering support to people living with brain injuries and their families as well as recruit volunteers.

“When we left hospital we didn’t know who to turn to. It had a massive impact on us all, 85 per cent of families break up after a brain injury,” she explained.

“There’s no such thing as a typical brain injury so what we want to do is deliver services specifically aimed at the client as well as offering activities, such as a pool room, to support older children. It’s all about understanding what’s best for the individual in front of you and we feel really passionate about that.”