'Lucky to be alive' - crash survivor's safety plea

A woman who defied the odds by walking again after a car accident is urging others to wear their seat belt.

Ellen Hogan, who was sat in the back, removed her seat belt to reach something on the floor moments before the car hit a tree just outside Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire in June 2022.

Ms Hogan, then 19, suffered a punctured lung, spinal fracture and a bleed on the brain, leaving her unable to walk or talk.

Now she wants others to learn from her experience after admitting her recovery was something "no one expected, not even my family".

She said: “I couldn’t look after myself. I couldn’t go upstairs properly. It was really, really bad.

“For the first year I was so down, so depressed and low. I just thought I’m not going to be able to do anything.”

She worked hard on her recovery, begging physiotherapists at Hull Royal Infirmary to see her twice a day.

When she left hospital she moved in with her grandmother because she couldn’t take care of herself.

Ms Hogan, who lives in Lincoln, added: “I’ve come a long, long way. They all thought I’d be in hospital for six months and would have to live in a care home."