A WOMAN who spent six weeks in a coma after a digger fell from a trailer and smashed through her car windscreen has found the strength to share her story, six years later.
Alana Rutter-Close, from Whitley Bay, had been driving home after a weekend in Yorkshire with her mother and son when the accident happened on April 14, 2014.
Although she cannot recall the incident herself, because of a brain injury she suffered, she has decided to share her story to pay tribute to the medics including the Great North Air Ambulance Service who saved her.
She said: “The accident itself, I also don’t remember at all. Only what I have been told.
“A low loading vehicle was driving in front of me and it was carrying three diggers.
“The vehicle hit a bridge and lost its load with one of the diggers falling onto the bonnet of my car. The bucket on the digger then spun around and smashed through my windscreen, hitting me in the head.
“I can’t remember GNAAS coming for me, but I have been told by people who attended the accident, that I was conscious for a small amount of time but due to the pain I was in, I was put into a medically-induced coma on scene after having a blood transfusion.”
Mrs Rutter-Close was taken the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, and was kept in a coma for six weeks during which time friends and family feared she would not survive.
She had suffered severe brain damage, skull fractures, a broken jaw, collapsed lung and scarring and had lost three teeth.
She said: “Once my recovery started, it took around five years before I was even starting to live a semi-normal life.
“I would say now, I am at a point where I have recovered as well as I can and I am so eternally grateful to everyone who supported me in my recovery.
“So many people have helped me get to where I am today.
“GNAAS holds a special place in my heart and always will. I will be forever in their debt for saving my life.
“My accident made me realise that life can change in the blink of an eye and I am just so happy I am still alive.
“It has proved to me how many wonderful people exist in the world and really want to help people and each other.”
To support the Great North Air Ambulance Service charity greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/support-us/donations/
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here