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Posted 04 August 2009 - 10:36 AM
A Hampshire boy who survived a racing crash which almost severed his head from his neck is back behind the wheel.
Chris Stewart was 12 when his head was left attached to his body by only skin and muscle after the accident. He had metal pins put into his body.
It took nine months for Chris, now 14 and from Fareham, to learn to speak, eat and walk again and doctors have now said he can get back behind the wheel.
He is thought to be one of just six people to survive a "hangman's injury".
His mother Debbie said she would only allow him to race a go-kart.
Chris has been three times this year to a track near his home.
He received the so-called "hangman's injury" after his skull and neck were separated when he hit a barrier in a junior race in September 2006.
'Unheard-of recovery'
Doctors reattached his skull to his spine using titanium plates and screws.
Others to have survived the injury have been left paralysed.
His mother Debbie, 43, said: "The recovery could not be described as anything short of miraculous.
"It's an unheard-of recovery, a complete medical phenomenon to the extent he has gone full circle now and is driving again.
"It's just nothing we could have contemplated in September 2006."
His mother has banned car racing and only allows him to drive a go-kart.
"He is two years from getting behind a car and starting to drive himself," she said.
"I can't be with him all the time but for now I don't want him grass track racing.
"I still find it very difficult to comprehend at times and I find it emotional to be around him knowing we are lucky to still have him."
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/engl...ire/8181737.stm
