"IT'S the 18th anniversary of my accident on October 7," explains Nichola Webber excitedly. I'm going to throw a huge party."

Why would Nichola, now 27, want to celebrate an accident that left her in a coma, robbed her mobility and took her clear speech?

"Why not?" she laughs, slowly gesturing from head to toe as she takes a seat in the kitchen of her adapted bungalow.

"Look at what I've achieved."

Nichola's life was transformed when she was just nine-years-old. She was collecting chestnuts with her parents and sister when she ran across a country road and was hit by a car travelling at 50mph.

The little girl was catapulted into the air and suffered serious scattered brain damage.

After three weeks she awoke from a coma but her family was warned she'd never walk or talk again.

Many months later her parents brought her home from hospital to Bircotes, near Doncaster, but life would never be the same again.

"I had to wear nappies and it was like being a baby all over again," recalls Nichola, who now lives independently but still relies heavily on her mum Janet and daily carers.

"I had a bed on my mum and dad's floor and my dad would have to carry me upstairs. Our family was turned upside down."

Months of painstaking physiotherapy and speech therapy began to pay off and slowly Nichola began to walk and talk.

"I could only blink my eyes at first. I had to re-learn everything. I knew I was never going to be normal again. People say 'the sky's the limit' so I decided I was reaching for space."

The headteacher at the local junior school battled for disabled adaptations so Nichola could return and eventually she re-joined her classmates, albeit in a wheelchair.

Nichola longed to fit in but her wheelchair made her conspicuous and a target for bullies.

"They used to call me names and once I was tipped out of my wheelchair. I always felt like I was in a box and they didn't want to play in my box. They couldn't accept me for me. I was an easy target."

On reflection, Nichola feels her dreadful experiences have made her stronger.

"It has made me the way I am," says Nichola, who doesn't pull any punches.

"I'm still really close to my family but it was hard watching my sister Gemma grow up and do all the things I wanted to do.

"She had a boyfriend and went out lots but watching her encouraged me. It showed me what was normal.

"Now I just want to have equal opportunities in everything I do."

Nichola suffered scattered brain damage in the accident which affects her on many different levels.

Although she went on to complete GCSE's and study various short college courses, she finds certain everyday tasks impossible.

Her mum helps her apply make-up and she can't fasten buttons. She's learned to adapt to survive but her frustrations are obvious.

"I'd love to snuggle up on the settee on a cold winter's night with a hot chocolate but I can't.

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