Avid Wolves fan Jack given Black Country voice after horror accident

Jack Smith was only seven when he lost the ability to speak after a serious accident in Telford in 2004.

He was knocked over by a taxi at a crossing on Castlefields Way in Telford and airlifted to hospital – spending 19 days in intensive care, 16 months at Birmingham Children's Hospital and nine months in a rehab centre in Surrey.

Jack lost the use of his voice after the accident, his legs, and his left arm – causing him to be wheelchair-bound.

He had used a communication aid which had a standard voice, but he said he found it boring and wanted to sound like the rest of his family.

Now a new voice for his communications device has been found – thanks to another Black Country lad, Jack McBride, who has recorded a host of words and phrases.

Jack Smith said: “Alright, my name is Jack. I’m chuffed to bits with my new voice. It’s something I’ve wanted for a long time and now I sound like the rest of the family.

“Thanks everyone and a big thank you Jack for giving me your voice. If I could talk I think this is how I would sound. It’s bostin’. Cheers mate.”

The donor recorded roughly 650 phrases for the 22-year-old.

Andy Ball, Jack's father, said: "Last night he Face-timed us and used that device. It's the first time since he got the accent and it's just totally different and it sounds like our local accent.

"He uses the buttons [to access the Black Country phrases] but whether that's more of novelty at the moment, but yeah, he does use the slang.

"When they are in a classroom, if six people have communicators you don't know who said what.

"We listened to a radio show and it was four students and they spoke and you didn't know who was talking.

"Now you know it's Jack right away.

"He definitely has got a part of himself back. Plus he loved being on the camera as well.

"Originally, we're from Wombourne and we live on the outskirts of Stafford at Woodseaves now.

"Back then we lived in Telford but his grandparents were from Wolverhampton.

"It's lovely to hear his voice and we're very proud of him."

Avid Wolves fan Jack is due to read out the teams for the Wolves' Premier League clash against Cardiff on Saturday.

His father said the players had to be pre-programmed into the computer, with captain Conor Coady proving to be the hardest to say.

Mr Ball said: "We're all Wolves fans and when he was in the rehab centre they contacted Wolves and he was invited to go to Wolves v Brighton in Brighton.

"At the moment he's over the moon with the results. We've had season tickets since 2006 – so we've been through the bad times and now the good.

"He's over the moon with his voice. With his talk box, what a lot of people don't realise is that it's all pre-programmed so we've had to programme the whole teams.

"Sometimes it doesn't sound like what the player is called – Conor Coady was one of the worst.

"It would not say 'Coady'.

"The Portuguese players were fine but it was Conor Coady – it didn't like saying it."

Ruben Neves recorded a special message, which was played on the BBC show.

The midfield player said: “Hi Jack, thank you for all of your support. I’m so pleased to hear about your story and I’m looking forward to hearing your Black Country accent.

“I hope you can come to the next game at Molineux against Cardiff to show it off by saying our teams so hope to see you there.”