The Daily Mail is reporting that the life of Natalie Lander, 31, was turned upside down in July, 2011 when she was driving to work one morning and her car spun out of control on a wet manhole cover. After the crash, she was left barely alive with her back was broken in four places and her neck in two. Her vocal chords were crushed and she suffered traumatic brain injuries.
"The doctors told me to prepare for the worst,” said her husband, Marcus.
Natalie was still in a drug-induced coma when a scan indicated that she was four weeks pregnant. The couple, from Walsall in the UK, already had one son, and wanted more children but because Natalie suffered from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, they believed she was unable to have any more children.
When Natalie awoke from the coma and heard the news, she says she was “torn between being overjoyed and terrified.”
Doctors immediately recommended that she terminate the pregnancy, but the couple refused.
"We wanted to fight for our baby," she said.
And so began her long and difficult recovery.
"I was paralysed down my left hand side, and could barely speak in more than a whisper because of the damage to my vocal cords – nobody could tell me how far I would recover," she said.
During her pregnancy, she underwent four months of intensive physiotherapy, which helped her learn how to walk and talk again.
"I was trying to concentrate on getting myself better, but I was so worried about the little baby growing inside me," she said. "Medics kept telling me he would be fine, but I wouldn’t believe it until I held him in my arms."
In March, 2012, she finally had that chance when she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Max.
Since then, Natalie is continuing to improve and is now able to return to work part-time. Although she still has some stiffness on her left side, doctors say a long road of recovery still lies ahead of her.
But she doesn't mind. Nothing matters as much as being able to care for her two boys.
“I am so incredibly grateful to the doctors and nurses who have helped me, and West Midlands Air Ambulance, who saved my life,” she said. “I can’t ever thank them enough for saving my family.”
In a statement appearing on their website, the Sisters of the Gospel of Life called Natalie's story "heart wrenching" and wonder if the fact that she was pregnant didn't make her fight harder to recover.
They ask: "Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this story could make people stop and re-think why an innocent life should be ended in a misguided attempt to make a situation better and perhaps save babies in the future?"
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