A YOUNG Barnsley woman is determined to rebuild her life after being left for dead and suffering a broken neck in a hit-and-run road accident.

Katie Cutts, 24, from Cundy Cross, says she had so much to look forward to after opening a beauty salon in the town centre earlier this year.

But everything changed in the early hours of September 20 when she was walking back to her salon on Peel Parade and was hit by a motorcylist, leaving her with life-changing injuries.

Hours of painstaking surgery later, she is finally back home - although she accepts her life will never be the same again.

She told the Chronicle: “Blood was just pouring out my head; my ear was detached. I was left for dead.

“The ambulance came and blue-lighted me straight to Northern General and that’s when I really became conscious.

“I spent six nights in the hospital, not being able to move, just crying in pain every single day.

“I was sent home and told by my surgeon that my fracture would heal with my neck brace on.”

However the pain continued and Katie returned to hospital where she was told she would be able to regain movement in her neck - but it would mean undergoing rare surgery called skull traction where bolts were screwed into both side of her head.

She added: “It was awful. I had to be laid on a bed at a 180-degree angle and I couldn’t move for four days.

“It was torture.

“I couldn’t sit up to eat, I had to be laid down and all I could see was the ceiling for four days.

“I had my operation on October 14 and it was so scary.

“They were telling me all the risks of everything that could happen to me. They told me that I had to have the back of my hair shaved which is obviously not what any girl wants to hear.”

Katie said the surgery was so rare that other doctors and nurses on the ward watched for educational purposes.

“The break was so rare, it was in the middle of my bone,” she said.

“There were around ten doctors and students who wanted to view my surgery.

“It was computer-navigated on a 3D video so people were watching there.

“Thankfully it went okay and I felt all right for the first few days because they give you as many drugs as they possibly can.

“But then I started to feel absolutely awful and I was in there for around eight days.”

She’s due to go back to hospital at the end of next month for a check-up - but admits she has no idea yet what recovery will mean for her in the long term although she realises the surgery will leave her scarred for life.

Friends and family have set up a fundraising campaign to help her along the arduous road to recovery - something she is very grateful for.

She added: “It’s going to affect me for the rest of my life. I’m in pain every single day and I’m still really scared that my operation hasn’t gone right.

“I’m not going to be able to work because I’m self-employed but I’ll never be able to do that the same way. I want my normal life - but it’ll never be the same.

“I’m so grateful with the support from the fundraiser.”

A link to the fundraiser can be found on the Barnsley Chronicle website.