A student who was left in a coma following a serious car crash is said to have wiggled her toes just moments before doctors were going to switch off her life support. Months later, she is being dubbed a 'walking miracle' following the incredible 180-degree recovery.
Sam Hemming, 22, suffered from devastating injuries after the car she was a passenger in, with her boyfriend driving, flipped over on the M6. The extent of her injuries on July 20 left her brain dead and with 'no hope of recovery'.
Sam Hemming and her boyfriend Tom Curtis. Image credit: SWNS
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During the impact, her head smashed through the window and hit the central reservation, taking her left ear off and breaking four bones in her neck.
Curtis escaped from the incident with minor injuries, but Hemming was airlifted to hospital, where surgeons operated on her for six hours before placing her in a medically-induced coma, reports the Daily Mail.
Nineteen days later, showing no signs of recovery, doctors advised her parents to prepare for the worst and to switch off her life-support machine after she was confirmed as brain dead.
A photo of the student in her hospital bed was taken by her mother, Carol, as she made a heart-breaking farewell to her daughter.
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Image credit: SWNS
"We gathered in her room and said our farewells," her mother said. "They turned the life-support machine off and I screamed."
Despite all odds, Hemming 'wiggled her big toe' when a medic accidentally brushed it with an ice-cold wipe. Due to this reaction, they kept her in a controlled coma.
Just days later she was given a tracheotomy and when her life-support machine was turned off again, she was able to breathe on her own.
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Incredibly, eight weeks later, she was deemed well enough to return home.
Image credit: SWNS
Following her dramatic turn of health, Hemming has undergone three operations, as well as having metal plates inserted into her arm, which had three fractures.
Although one half of her brain was dead, the other half of her brain, which isn't typically used, remained undamaged. She has since learnt to walk and talk again.
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Her mother said: "Doctors are totally in shock. You see the specialised surgeons, paramedics and police and they look at Sammy and you see their mouths fall open.
"Her condition is different to other people because of the part of the brain which most people don't use - hers has developed into speech and movement."
Image credit: SWNS
Hemming now endures daily physiotherapy and is being treated for post traumatic stress disorder while doctors work to teach her brain to develop more functions.
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Speaking after her ordeal, Hemming said: "I can't remember the crash at all but I know I was coming home at the time.
"I can remember graduating and that's it, really. When I look at the pictures of me in the coma it seems unreal and when I hear that my toe saved me it's amazing.
"I'm hugely grateful for all the medical staff who have helped me. I can walk in short bursts and I have a walking frame and wheelchair to help me when I'm feeling weaker.
"My talking is fine and I just want to get better now. Before the accident I wanted to be a solicitor and that ambition hasn't changed. I still want a career in the law."
Image credit: SWNS
On the brink of death, the remarkable recovery that Hemming made has shocked medics among thousands of supporters on social media all wishing her a safe recovery.
It's not very often we get to finish these stories with good news. We wish her every bit of success as she prepares to starts her career in law.
Featured Image Credit: SWNS
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