Teen left unable to walk or talk after horror road crash on US holiday has defied medics to pursue a BALLET career
WHERE WE BELONG
A TEENAGER who lost the ability to walk and talk following a horrifying head-on crash during a family holiday to Florida has defied all odds to become a ballet dancer.
Megan Sergeant, 17, from Bagnall, Staffordshire, remained in a coma for five weeks after taking the brunt of the impact in July last year.
She suffered a severe brain injury and a fractured spine, pelvis and leg, in the accident which happened during a break to celebrate finishing her GCSEs.
To her parent's horror doctors informed them that she may never regain consciousness, and if she did, she could remain in a vegetative state.
Mum Julie, 50, said: "Megan took the brunt of the impact, she was completely unresponsive.
"I was being treated for minor injuries at a different hospital and didn't know if she was alive or dead.
"I got discharged and took a taxi to her hospital. She had bruising all over her face. She didn't look like Megan.
"We were told to expect the worst. We were told she could remain in a vegetative state."
After ten days an air ambulance flew the family to Royal Stoke Hospital in Manchester, where Megan remained in intensive care for three weeks.
Eventually she regained consciousness - however she was unable to do anything for herself, including eating.
Julie added: "She was conscious at this time but she was just thrashing round the bed.
"There was nothing in her eyes. That wasn't Megan at all. One day a consultant took us into a room and told us to accept Megan had gone.
"For two months we had nothing back from her."
However against all odds, after eight weeks the dancer took a whiteboard from an occupational therapist and wrote down her first and surname.
Julie said: "My chin hit the floor and from then on I knew there was hope."
After a further four months, Megan was transferred to an intensive specialist in Surrey where she began to learn to walk and talk again.
She even took up a business studies college course at City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College.
On Saturday, after 18 months in recovery, the brave teenager performed in her first public recital since the accident.
Despite still needing a splint, Megan is now working hard to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a ballerina.
She said: "It has been a long journey. I did not think I would ever be able to dance again but I can - I just do it in my own way.
"Hopefully one day I will be able to walk without a splint.
"I do not remember anything about the crash. I do not remember anything of America.
"I was flown back on a life support machine. I had post traumatic amnesia so have very little recollection of the six months after the accident.
"I'm walking a parallel path to the life I should have had but am grateful for what I have and what I can do.
"I don't know what I'm going to do in the future. For now it's just about getting better."