Search for
Search for
Search forJoy as brave India finds her feet again after West Croydon crash
Friday, August 22, 2008, 07:00
Following the accident three-year-old India Smith's family feared she would have to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.
She was hit by a delivery lorry as she crossed a zebra crossing in Whitehorse Road, West Croydon, on July 26.
But our pictures show she is now out of St George's Hospital, in Tooting, and continuing her recovery.
India couldn't move the right side of her body, but is now making steady progress and the feeling is returning.
Her nan Yvette Wilson told the Advertiser: "It's brilliant that she's lifting her arm a little bit, but it's still not right.
"She has got to have physiotherapy for a good while. She's walking, although if we go to the shops she has to go in the buggy."
India had been on the way back from the shops with her mum Kerry Smith, 28, and sister Brooke, six, when she was knocked down by the lorry.
Initially she was unconscious and she was left with a big gash on her head and a fractured skull.
Mrs Wilson said: "It was a nightmare because we didn't know if she was going to pull through.
"It's anybody's nightmare seeing your child like that. The neurosurgeon said she could have temper tantrums, and she is.
"They are terrible – she's screaming for no reason like she is in pain, but she's just doing it for the attention.
"She wakes up in the middle of the night all the time and asks for her leg to be straightened. She is still not speaking properly. She talks slowly."
India will have physiotherapy once a week in St James' Road, Croydon, and use the hydro pool at Mayday Hospital, allowing her to exercise in water.
India is also to have speech therapy.
Her mum couldn't bring herself to leave her daughter's bedside while she was in hospital.
Meanwhile, the family wish to thank friends and neighbours for their support.
Mrs Wilson added: "There's a lady down the road who bought her a big teddy. Thank you to everybody who bought her things."
The lorry driver was arrested at the scene of the accident on suspicion of dangerous driving and was bailed to return to a south London police station in September.
OUT OF HOSPITAL: Three-year-old India Smith
Pic by Kevin Shaw
Be the first to comment