'I had to relearn how to walk twice'

Jade Almond, from Wigan, faced months of treatment when a knock on the head affected her ability to walk. On her last day of rehab, she was in a car accident that left her paralysed

- GRAEME CULLIFORD

While Jade Almond learned how to walk again during months of gruelling physiotherapy, she looked forward to being able to play football again and trips to restaurants with her family.

The accident that had left her reliant on crutches was a distant memory and, after seven months of treatment, it seemed like life could finally return to normal.

But, in a terrible twist of fate, on the drive back from her last round of treatment, she was involved in a car crash that left her immobile for a second time.

“I remember my mum screaming and the car went into the back of us and everything went fuzzy,” says Jade, now 21. “I thought I was OK, but then I started throwing up and feeling out of it. By the time we got to A&E, I couldn’t move. I had no strength. I couldn’t believe this had happened to me again.”

It’s a testament to her resilience that Jade has once again overcome the odds and made a second incredible recovery. Now studying to be a teacher, she is determined to inspire others.

“I’m looking forward to what the future holds,” she says, smiling.

Jade’s first accident happened in 2018 when she was 16 and a promising goalkeeper playing for Wigan Athletic women’s team.

“I started playing when I was eight or nine years old and my original plan was to become a football coach when I finished school,” says Jade, who is a student at Liverpool Hope University.

“We would play matches on the weekend and train midweek. My whole life was very sports-orientated.”