Teen left 98% brain dead after horror smash has learned to walk and talk again after years of gruelling rehab

A TEEN who was left 98 per cent brain dead after a horror smash has learned to walk and talk again after years of gruelling rehab.

Music-lover Matthew Jones has made an incredible recovery after the horror smash in 2013, when he was just 18-years-old.

The teen was a passenger in a pal's car - who had only passed her test weeks before - travelling back from Download Festival in Donnington Park, Leics.

Matthew's friend fell asleep at the wheel on the M25 and lost control of her car - colliding with a lorry.

The car stopped sideways in the centre of the road and a speeding van smashed into them, catastrophically injuring the young lad.

Matthew's horrified dad was on the phone to his son at the time of the crash and had to listen to the impact.

Petrified Bob, 64, a Highways Traffic Officer, heard his son scream and a loud bang but didn't know what had happened.

The concerned traffic officer wasted no time alerting his colleagues and made his way to the scene, where Matthew lay trapped in the car fighting for his life.

Paramedics were making a decision to give up on him, as his heart wasn't beating and he wasn't breathing, when a retired cardiac nurse who witnessed the crash begged to have a go and managed to revive him.

The keen footballer and tennis player was rushed to St George's Hospital, in London, where medics told his parents he was 98 per cent brain dead and warned them to prepare for the worst.

Matthew - who planned to be a preschool teacher - suffered devastating injuries, including serious head and brain injuries, a fractured pelvis, broken ribs, a broken femur and two collapsed lungs, as well as significant cuts and bruises.

But despite the odds Matthew began to regain consciousness after six weeks in a coma in intensive care and was soon transferred to Glenside Hospital's specialist neuro-rehabilitation ward in Salisbury, Wilts, where he remained for six months.

Matthew is now a resident at the Queen Elizabeth Foundation centre at Banstead in Surrey, where he continues to undergo extensive neuro-rehabilitation and three-and-a-half years after the accident is moving home at the end of this month.

Despite setbacks including MRSA. spas,s from paroxysmal autonomic instability with dystonia (PAID) syndrome, temporary blindness and ataxia, a condition which causes violent shaking, Matthew has learned to talk, write and feed himself again.

Although he needs professional carers and relies on a powered wheelchair and an adapted vehicle, Matthew can walk very short distances with a special mobility aid and is now hoping to pursue a career in local journalism through his love of writing.

Bob and his wife Katherine, along with national law firm Irwin Mitchell, have spoken out about Matthew's path to recovery in a bid to raise awareness of road safety as part of Brake's Road Safety Week, which runs from today until the end of the week.

Katherine, of East Grinstead, West Sussex, gave up her job as a medical secretary to care for Matthew after the collision.

She is now working the law firm to adapt the family home to make it more suitable for her son's needs - which include space for his electric wheel chair and a downstairs wash room.

These works, and Matt's professional care and equipment, have been funded through interim payments obtained by Irwin Mitchell from the drivers', who both pleaded guilty to careless driving, insurance companies.

Katherine, 47, added: "I hope people read our story and recognise that cars are weapons. If you don't use them carefully, lives can be devastated.

"I cannot begin to put in to words how horrendous it has been to see my son have to struggle with such awful injuries and severe brain damage and through no fault of his own.

"An accident like this rocks the foundations of life as you know it."

"We are so looking forward to Matt coming home.

"He has come such a long way in his recovery which is testament to his tenacity, positivity and determination and I am so very proud of him."

Bob said: "Sadly as a Highways Officer, and previously a Fire Officer, I regularly witness the devastation caused by careless driving but nothing could have prepared me for having to attend the scene of my own son."

Partner and serious injury expert at Irwin Mitchell, James Davies, who is representing Matthew, said: "Matthew is a truly inspirational young man who has overcome countless challenges which would have left many people wanting to give up.

"The injuries Matthew suffered changed his and his family's lives forever and although nothing can turn back the clock, the funds he will receive will enable him to afford the on-going professional care and specialist equipment he will require for the rest of his life."

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