Brave little Cerys Edwards gives parents special Christmas present with remarkable progress from injuries caused by a dangerous driver

Dec 26 2008 by Nick McCarthy, Birmingham Mail

THE mum and dad of brave little Cerys Edwards got a special present from their daughter who is making remarkable progress from horrific injuries caused by a dangerous driver.

Cerys was back in Birmingham yesterday to spend Christmas morning with her mum Tracy and dad Gareth in Sutton Coldfield.

She had just undergone a week of intensive tests, which left doctors “over the moon” with her progress.

The specialist paediatric spinal injuries unit at Buckinghamshire’s Stoke Mandeville Hospital, (which only has six paediatric beds) is having her back in just six weeks.

Cerys made significant breakthroughs, including eating and drinking for the first time without tubes, standing without supports and breathing on her own for more than two minutes.

Doctors are keen to have her back to see if they can wean her off the ventilator that breathes for her and to see if she can walk on a special treadmill.

Cerys was ripped out of her baby seat when a 4x4 collided into her family’s car at more than 70mph in a 30mph zone in November 2006.

The crash, in Streetly Lane, Sutton Coldfield, left Cerys paralysed, brain damaged and unable to breathe without the aid of a ventilator.

She spent Christmas 2006 at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and in 2007 she was at the Children’s Trust Centre in Surrey where she had lived with her mum.