'I didn't think I would be using a zimmer frame at 29', says woman who survived head-on crash

A woman has said she has been left mentally and physically broken after she narrowly survived a head-on crash with a drunk driver.

Rachel Downes from Stoke-On-Trent was involved in the collision in 2021 which broke almost every bone in her body.

She was in a coma for more than three weeks and has no memory of the accident in Staffordshire.

Two-and-a-half-years after the crash in Rugeley, Rachel's finally been able to rebuild her life and she hopes to raise awareness of the consequences of drink-driving.

She told ITV News Central: “I didn’t think I would be the victim of a drink driver.

"I guess I naively assumed most people were smarter than that now.

"It’s quite shocking to think that almost 11 o'clock in the morning someone had got in their car still over the limit."

The driver that hit Rachel on the A51 bypass in Rugeley was heading to a fast food restaurant with friends after drinking the night before. He was almost double the legal limit.

Rachel was rushed to the Royal Stoke Hospital with multiple, serious injuries.

She said: "I needed to adjust back into walking properly, I had to adjust to going to the toilet again.

"I couldn't shower myself for a long time. I couldn't do stairs, I had to relearn how to walk up stairs.

"I was 29 and I didn't think I would be using like a zimmer frame at the age of 29 and I was and it was just absolutely bizarre."

Rebuilding her life and body has been an ongoing challenge for Rachel - she was physically, but also mentally broken.

She said: "Everything just seemed to spiral so quickly. I don't like believe in fate or anything like that but I started to question my own belief system.

"Because I was like well, if there is a god why has this happened or if fate is a thing or if karma is a thing what have I done that has meant that I have been dealt this hand."

In July 2023, the offending driver was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

Rachel said: "I'm hoping by sharing this that at least one person somewhere will go 'actually yeah i've had a few drinks last night, it's quite early in the morning, maybe I won't go for a drive'.

"I don't want anybody to go through what I went through at all."

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