A BRAVE Hampshire teenager fighting back from horrific injuries sustained in a tragic car crash has taken her first steps unaided.

Christina Corp was given half an hour to live just days after suffering life-threatening head and pelvic injuries in a horror smash on the A32 near Wickham last year.

But, ten months on, she has defied medical opinion to make a miraculous recovery.

Now the 18-year-old, from Swanmore, has ditched her sticks and is learning to walk again.

Mum Jackie Corp said: "All of a sudden she didn't need help any more. We knew because we thought it was safe to leave her. I went upstairs and returned to find her in the kitchen raiding the food cupboard!

"She will never use her sticks again, but she can't go very far. We went for a walk and she pushed her wheelchair. She is gaining in confidence all the time.

"It is almost like when a baby learns to walk, but a slower process. She is learning to walk properly again."

Christina is continuing her recovery at a specialist unit in Bitterne, Southampton.

She returns home to New Road, Swanmore, every weekend for trips to the pub and the cinema with friends, to spend time with family, visit her horses and go to church.

Horse lover Christina also got back in the saddle with a Riding for the Disabled group and still dreams of becoming a riding teacher.

She is still a long way from a full recovery, but is making steady improvement in her reading, writing and concentration.

Mrs Corp added: "It's still a long process and we will need lots of ongoing support. This is a difficult time, but also a time to rejoice.

"We can't make any predictions about how far she will go. Medically, she has already amazed everyone, but when she survived we have always believed she would make a full recovery.

"She was a party animal before the accident and she still wants to be.

"But she has to accept this is the reality for her now. With her memory loss she has missed a large chunk of her life and she's only just starting to come to terms with the fact that her friend died in the accident."

The tragedy, last April, claimed the life of 18-year-old Fareham College student Vicky Waters.

The Ford Fiesta Vicky was driving was in collision with a coach carrying a class of schoolchildren on their way back from a study week. The accident took place on the notorious Fareham-to-Alton road near Mislingford.