Father's agony at being parted

Gareth Edwards spends the week counting down the minutes until he will be at his daughter's hospital bed and see her beaming smile.

"I would love to be with Cerys 24/7 but the bills still have to be paid and so I have to make do with just weekends," he says.

"She has been based in Surrey for 12 months in a rehabilitation centre at the St George's Hospital.

"At the moment our goal is to find a property and get it adapted as soon as possible so she can be home for Christmas.

"Cerys is going to need 24 hour care and that is going to cost a lot of money."

Two-year-old Cerys Edwards was left severely brain-damaged after speeding driver Antonio Singh Boparan ploughed into her parents Jeep in November 2006.

The Edwards were awarded £800,000 in compensation but Cerys now needs 24-hour care and relies on a ventilator. Gareth and Tracy are searching for a specially equipped house near their home in Sutton Coldfield.

"Cerys is having excellent care at hospital and we it to continue when she comes home," says Gareth.

"At the moment Cerys is making lots of effort to breathe on her own.

"She has physiotherapy two days a week, speech and language on one day and music and movement on another day.

"She will need a hydrotherapy pool as well as a sensory and physio room but an annex building will also be needed for the nurses.

"I have my own building business, which I will continue with, but I will do reduced hours so I can help Tracy with caring for Cerys. Tracy and I didn't want to have to run a big house, as our overheads will probably double. We just wish the accident had never happened and we could return to our simple little lives."

Millionaire's son Boparan, whose parents run West Bromwich firm Two Sisters Food Group, was driving a high-powered Range Rover at 70mph in a 30mph zone when he hit the car.

The 21-year-old, of Little Aston, Sutton Coldfield, was convicted of dangerous driving at Birmingham Crown Court and jailed for 21 months.

"The Boparans are worth £130 million and are sixth on the region's Rich List but have not offered anything towards the cost of caring for Cerys," says Gareth.

"They have not even offered an apology.

"This has never been about the money - we just want Cerys back as normal as possible. But if I was a multi-millionaire and I had injured a child I would feel that I should pay for her care and to try and get the family's life back to as normal as possible.

"The £800,000 compensation we received will be spent on specialist treatments for Cerys – but it will soon disappear."

Gareth says that Tracy never leaves Cerys' side and he phones her three times a day.

"Cerys recognises the tunes when the phone rings," he says.

"Tracy tells me that she concentrates on every word I say to her.

"I will never forgive the Boparans for dragging us through court to get the compensation.

"The only time that Tracy has left Cerys was when she came back up to the Midlands to give evidence in court – it was upsetting for them both. I feel so sorry for Cerys but she loves looking at the pictures of herself in the paper – I take along cuttings of her from the Express & Star.

"We are doing a scrapbook for Cerys filled with newspaper articles and CDs of the radio interviews we have done.

"When she is older we want her to see how much support we have received."

Gareth says there is a possibility that Cerys will continue to improve.

"It is very hard for doctors to give us some kind of hope but I spoke to the head consultant who said Cerys is not completely paralysed," he says. "She moves her whole body if she is uncomfortable in bed and can move her head and her neck.

"Also, if she has a wet nappy she wakes up and cries – all that is fantastic and does give us some hope.

"It is wonderful how she smiles as soon as we walk in the room.

"She is always laughing and giggling at the television – her favourite character is Mr Tumble. She smiles at the doctors and the nurses, but she had always been a happy little girl and everyone who meets her falls in love with her – she is gorgeous.

"Cerys has had 11 operations as well as chest and water infections and through it all there is one thing you can't take away from her, and that is her smile."