‘Miracle’ student wiggles her toe moments before doctors planned to switch off life support

A woman has been dubbed a “walking miracle” after wiggling her toe moments before medics were preparing to turn off her life-support machine.

Sam Hemming’s movement stopped the docs in their tracks - and her progress since that point has been unbelievable.

The law graduate, 22, suffered severe head injuries when the car her boyfriend was driving flipped over on the motorway. Her head smashed through the window, hitting the central reservation.

Sam was placed in a chemically-induced coma following a six-hour operation; 19 days later, doctors advised her devastated parents to switch off her life-support machine after she was confirmed brain dead with no hope of recovery.

But just as they were about to turn off the machine, Sam wiggled her toe, and medics instead opted to keep her in a controlled coma.

Days later she was given a tracheotomy and was soon able to breathe on her own. Eight weeks after that she was deemed well enough to return home to Credenhill, Hereford, where she now lives with mum Carol, 44, and dad Jason, 43.

Walking miracle: Sam has amazing medics with her progress (SWNS)

Despite suffering head injuries which left one side of her brain “dead”, the other part of her brain which is not normally used was undamaged.

Amazingly, the undamaged side of her brain developed in such a way Sam was able to learn how to walk and talk again.

Mum Carol said: “Sammy shouldn’t be alive. She suffered the worst injuries anyone could have in a car crash.”

But the miraculous toe wiggle showed there was still hope. Carol recalls: "She was responding to heat so there was still some brain function. They gave her a tracheotomy and five days later when they turned her life support off she breathed on her own.

"It was amazing. She had literally come back from the dead. If she hadn’t wiggled her toe she wouldn’t be here today. Doctors are totally in shock. She is a walking miracle.”

Graduate: Sam hopes to practice law in the future (SWNS)

Sam, who got a 2:1 in Law from Bangor University, was getting a lift with her boyfriend to Birmingham New Street station on her way back to her Hereford home when he crashed on the M6 on July 20.

Her boyfriend Tom Curtis, 21, escaped with minor injuries but Sam was airlifted to University Hospital Coventry where surgeons battled to save her life.

Sam underwent three operations, as well as having metal plates inserted into her arm with suffered three fractures.

She also broke four bones in her neck and her family were warned to prepare themselves for the worst.

Carol, who has three other children, Tim, 24, Callum, 15, and Nikkita, 14, added: “I never cried so much in my life.”

Carol, who has given up her job hiring bouncy castles to care for Sam full-time, added: “A doctor told me that Sam does have brain damage and is going to need care but that she shouldn’t be talking and she shouldn’t be able to take the steps she has as that part of her brain is dead.”

Sam now undergoes daily physiotherapy and is being treated for post traumatic stress disorder while doctors work to help her brain develop more functions.

Carol said: "It’s slow progress but Sam is determined to get better and wants to practice law. She’s already beaten huge odds to be here today so there’s no reason why she shouldn’t amaze us all again.”