A YOUNG East Lancashire mother has told how she recovered from a crippling brain injury suffered in a car accident when she was just 11.

Rossendale Valley resident Rebecca Gilmore was told she would never work, drive or be a parent when a scan diagnosed the extent of the injury to her head five years after the collision with a people carrier near her family home in Ramsbottom.

She sustained two bleeds on her brain and three skull fractures, and was initially placed on a life support machine for three days.

Rebecca dropped out of mainstream education and after the scale of her brain injury was diagnosed her family approached law firm Irwin Mitchell who secured a large financial settlement to help pay for her rehabilitation and treatment

Now aged 28, Rebecca is mother to six-year-old Jacob, has been driving for three years and has worked as a carer for dementia and stroke patients in 2017.

She recently supported 'Action For Brain Injury Week highlighting ‘Brain Fatigue’ and other consequences of a brain injury.

Now in her own home in Ramsbottom with Jacob, she said: "From the age of 11 to 16, I felt lost. I didn’t know what had happened and I hadn’t been told I had brain injuries. I was trying to find myself but I couldn’t.

“After contacting Irwin Mitchell, they supported me.

“I’m no longer working as a carer and I’m still coming to terms with how I can make my life as normal as possible, as my brain injury does still affect me

“I’m so happy that I was given my capacity back last year.I am just enjoying spending time with Jacob and my family and friends.”

Sally Murphy, a specialist lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “I’ll never forget how happy she and her son were when they moved into their first house togethe. At that point it became clear how far she had come."