Student Becky tackles Great Birmingham Run, 18 months after cheating death

Every step of the way Becky Payne will be raising money for the hospital whose skilled staff got her back on her feet after she came that close to severing a vital artery in her neck.

The injuries were so severe the emergency services feared she had been decapitated when they first reached the scene of the crash in Bridgnorth Road near her home in Wood Hill Drive, Wombourne.

"Nobody knows how I am still here – I am very lucky to be alive," confessed the Criminology student who also suffered a traumatic brain injury, a paralysed left arm, fractured collarbone, chipped spine and heavy bruising to her face in the accident. She still needs morphine to manage the pain.

Near-tragedy struck after a rear wheel of her Fiat Punto clipped the curb on a roundabout, tossing the saloon onto its roof and sending the vehicle crashing through a wooden fence into a six-foot deep ditch where it caught fire around midnight in March last year.

Becky, currently studying at Birmingham City University explained: "A fence panel came straight through my windscreen and cut through the left-hand side of my neck," said Rebecca, studying a Masters in Criminology at Birmingham City University.

"I landed in a really awkward place – hardly anyone goes down that road. After the car set alight, I was so lucky that two men happened to be driving past.

"One called the emergency services and the other got buckets of water to put the fire out. An off-duty nurse also happened to be passing by. They are just some of the people I owe my life to."

She was in an induced coma for 48 hours, kept in the intensive care unit for a fortnight and spent a total of seven weeks at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Becky severely damaged the nerves that connect the spinal chord to her left arm, known as brachial plexus injury and an extreme form of the 'stingers' or 'burners' suffered by players in rugby and other sports.

Surgeon, Mr Dominic Power, twice operated on the problem during her initial stay in hospital. She then returned for a 14-hour nerve transplant operation to get her shoulder and elbow functioning properly.

"Nerves grow extremely slowly and I am only now starting to see movement at the top of my arm, but I can slightly lift my forearm," disclosed Becky.

"Because I had been bed-ridden for so long, I had to learn to walk again – I couldn't even stand."

She took the huge step of entering the Great Birmingham Run, which takes place on Sunday, October 16, after physiotherapists encouraged her to start exercising.

Becky, who runs with her injured arm in a sling, is using the 13.1-mile event to raise funds for the QE Hospital and the Trauma Brachial Plexus Injury Group charities and she is absolutely determined to complete the course.

Her mother Jackie said: "This is nothing short of a miracle.

"This is why she is doing the run to raise money for everyone who helped her recovery."

To sponsor Rebecca, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Bekkie-Payne

Meanwhile, those wanting to join the 15,000 people already signed up for the Great Birmingham Run can do so at www.greatrun.org/great-birmingham-run