A young girl who has been 'locked in' her body for more than a year has finally 'woken' after she heard her mum playing music by her hospital bed.
Miranda Meldrum was just 13-years-old when she suffered a rare brain haemorrhage in the night which nearly killed her.
The talented musician - now 14 - had suffered a series of severe headaches, a sudden loss of hearing, and was unable to move her arms, before she was rushed to A&E and underwent life saving surgery.
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But the teenager was left with 'locked-in syndrome, which meant her mind was trapped inside her paralysed body. She was given just a five per cent chance of coming out of her state.
Left with no other option, her mum Stella began playing songs Miranda knew, such as Evanescence hit 'Wake Me Up Inside', to try and get a reaction.
And despite doctors fearing she may never come round, Miranda began to move her eyes, arms and speak, and she incredibly she even started singing lessons again and will go back to school in November.
Miranda, an only child, said: "Music has been as if someone was holding my hand the whole way through this. It's been my sanity.
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"I could see a light at the end, I knew it was temporary. I was channeling positive thoughts, my brain wouldn't let me think negatively
"I was thinking most of the time 'Move' and then nothing happened, then 'Move' and still nothing and then 'Move' and there was a little flicker.
"The whole time I felt I knew the reason I couldn't move - it wasn't like 'Why is my leg moving?'"
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Her father John, 54, also played guitar and sang to Miranda while she recovered.
The strongest emotional response came when Stella read letters from loved-ones to Miranda, whose eyes began to flicker and her hands started to move, leaving her in floods of tears.
But Stella said it has been a long, arduous process to even get to this point.
She said: "Some people can be locked in for years on end, some people are fine with that and some get very upset and wish they hadn't been saved.
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"Miranda had a 95 per cent chance of remaining like that indefinitely. The only thing she could do was blink the eyes. We knew she was still in there so I would play songs and Peter Kay DVDs.
"For ages she couldn't move any muscle then after three months she could look slowly to the left.
"Then we started with the classic eye blinks - one blink for yes, two blinks for no.
"Then Miranda moved onto being able to touch fingers on a keyboard and now she's learned sign language."
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Before suffering the tragic incident in April last year, Miranda was gifted pupil, and excelled in art, English, drama, psychology, and biology.
But the young girl said it's her friends she misses the most.
She said: "The three most important things to my recovery are music, my cats and my friends.
"I listened to music throughout and the photos on the hospital wall of my cats helped so much. I message my friends which has helped when I'm bored.
"The thing I miss most about my friends is the fact they get everything, they understand me telepathically and we have our own lingo.
"I'm very excited to be going back to school."
Miranda has spent the last 18 months in Bristol Children's Hospital undergoing intensive treatment, and during that time has had to fight off three three near-fatal chest infections.
John and Stella spent most days by her bedside - and received praise from a neurosurgeon who acknowledged the importance of their care.
Stella said: "The neurosurgeon was kind and said it was an example of good parenting.
"We've been there every day - I told the surgeon it's an example of good brain surgery."
On the night of the brain haemorrhage, Stella says she looked on as 20 nurses and doctors tried to save her little girl.
She said: "In my 25 years as a doctor I've seen nothing like that. There were 20 members of hospital staff at 4am all gowned and gloved up - the room was full.
"My child coming in unconscious and it was a massive emergency, this teenager has had a brain haemorrhage - she might die.
"A surgeon said we had to take a piece of skull from her head. 'She might die during the operation but if we don't do it she will die', he said.
"They took a piece of bone so they could let the blood out."
Stella, who has been unable to work for two years while caring for Miranda, launched a fundraising page to pay for specialist equipment for their home.
She hopes to raise £30,000 to purchase a walker for Miranda, pay for private physiotherapy sessions and convert the downstairs of their home ahead of the hospital release next month.
Stella described her condition as the cruellest of ironies because she was 'the most active, extrovert girl'.
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