Family told to expect the worst after horror smash but Wickwar teenager Lewis Jackson defied all the odds and is now rebuilding his life

His family was told to prepare for the worst after the 19-year-old’s car left the road and ended up in a hedge as he drove to work a night shift at Waitrose in Chipping Sodbury last November.

Lewis, from Wickwar, was found by a passing driver who spotted his car’s headlights in a bush. He was put into an induced coma to stop the pressures on his brain and was on a life support machine.

“We were told to expect a call saying he hadn’t made it,” said Lewis’ sister Christine. “At hospital we were told three options; he would die, he would survive with a severe disability or he would survive but be brain damaged.

“Four months later and he has some short-term memory loss and he struggles a little with his right side but otherwise he is doing really well.”

At just 18-years-old, Yate International Academy forensics student Christine was the next of kin as their mum Tarah was away on the night of the accident, November 27.

“It was a lot to deal with,” said Christine, who had just started a work trial at The Star in Wotton-under-Edge that evening.

“My phone was in my bag so I found out through my boyfriend and literally just rushed to Southmead Hospital and we actually beat the ambulance there.

“It was awful and it has been such a rollercoaster of emotions. Lewis and I are only 13 months apart and it is just us and mum so we are all really close.”

After two weeks in intensive care, Lewis was well enough to move onto a neurological ward and two days before Christmas the former Alexander Hosea Primary and Katharine Lady Berkeley pupil did what no-one had expected, he woke up.

“Christmas day we had the gift that can only be described as a miracle,” said Christine. “He was alive.

“On February 1 he was moved to Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit for intense therapy. He is undergoing physiotherapy, psychotherapy, speech and language therapy, hydrotherapy and many more but Lewis is able to talk normally and attend his personal needs without assistance.

“His recovery, quoted from the nurses, ‘has defied medical logic’.”

After more than four months in hospital, Lewis was allowed home on March 24.

“I really wanted Lewis to have a welcome home party,” said Christine. “And I thought I might as well raise money to say thank you to the hospitals at the same time.

“If it wasn’t for Southmead he would not be alive and if it wasn’t for Frenchay he wouldn’t be able to walk.”

The party and fundraiser took place on Saturday, April 9 at The Star and saw nearly 400 well wishers help to raise £1,600 which will be split between Southmead’s intensive care unit and the Frenchay brain rehabilitation unit.

“I had a target of £1,000 and we had amazing raffle prizes including signed Manchester City cards but it did better than I had hoped,” added Christine.

“We are really grateful to everyone who came along and who donated prizes.”

Football mad Lewis has to learn to run again after his miraculous recovery but hopes to start playing again as early as this summer. He is due to start an electrician’s course at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College in Filton this September.