CHRISTMAS will be extra special for seven-year-old Courtney Atkinson.

Just six months ago she lay seriously injured in hospital after being hit by a car outside her school.

But after 12 operations she has made a remarkable recovery - so much so, she has asked Santa to send her a bike and some roller skates when he stops off at her home in Farleigh Close, Westhoughton.

"This could have been a Christmas without Courtney so we have all been looking forward to it and it is very special," said her father Paul.

Courtney was trapped under the wheels of a car which mounted the pavement after an accident with another vehicle as she walked outside Beaumont Primary School in Ladybridge, Bolton, in June.

She was critically ill for more than a week.

Mr Atkinson was walking behind Courtney, who was aged six at the time, and saw her pushed through a wire mesh fence by the car.

She was trapped under the wheels and Mr Atkinson crawled under the car and comforted his daughter as two passers-by helped to lift the vehicle off her.

Courtney suffered major skin, muscle and ligament damage to her right arm.

She is still an outpatient at Manchester's Wythenshawe Hospital Starlight Childrens Unit.

Mr Atkinson said: "She's getting back to her normal self and getting on with life. She's bounced back."

He said that despite her accident, Courtney had made a lengthy list for Father Christmas asking for, among other things, a bike and a pair of roller skates.

Mr Atkinson said he and his wife Nicky, aged 37, have been counting their lucky stars since their daughters recovery.

His young son Connor, aged nine, was still traumatised after witnessing the accident and Mr Atkinson said he was seeing a counsellor to help him deal with the memory of it.

Courtney will be back in hospital in January for three weeks for a major skin graft procedure on her hand. She will be off school for six weeks.