A 10-year-old has miraculously survived after being hit by a car while walking to school.
Holly Blakey was left with a number of serious injuries, the crash shattered her pelvis, split her bladder, bruised her lungs, which became filled with blood.
After eight hours of intensive surgery, Holly was put in an induced coma, and medics have confirmed that her condition is now stable, but remains in hospital to recover.
Holly was hit by a vehicle while she was on the way to Newsham Primary School in Blyth at around 8.15am on November 2, ChronicleLive reports.
Natalya Page, who is step-mum to Holly's older sister Kacey Leigh King, 16, said: "When she went into the surgery we really didn’t think she was coming out of it. The serious part is over but she’s still in a huge amount of pain."
Natalya, 23, and Kacey's dad Jason King, 35, are currently looking after Kacey and Lilly at their home in Newcastle and AJ is staying with his dad.
Natalya said: "Holly was making her way to her friends house to knock on her to walk to school. On one of the big roads she was crossing she was hit by a car.
"At the time no one was around her. People gathered but they didn’t know her name or anything.
"It was just this little girl in the middle of the road. I believe someone called the paramedic and somebody called the school
She said: "Holly got taken to the RVI. Holly’s pelvis was shattered in three places and bits of the pelvis that came away punctured her intestines.
"They thought at her her bladder had a little tear in it. In surgery, they found out the bladder had completely split in half.
"Her X-ray showed that her lungs were bruised and there was a shadow on one of the lungs. She was bleeding internally and that needed to be fixed.
"We really didn’t think she would come out of the surgery and I can’t explain how that felt. When she came out of surgery it was on to the next problem."
Natalya said medics were able to get the blood out of Holly's lungs and a day later she was able to breath on her own.
She said: "She’s been doing better, she’s on the road to recovery.
"Now she’s got two metal bars hanging out of her pelvis which cross on the middle to stabilise her pelvis.
"She's got quite a big scar. She's going to be scarred for life, it's not going to go away."
She said: "I had to put a brave face on for them. I just stood over Holly's bed and all I could say was 'She’s just too small for this bed'.
"She was just too small for the bed and it didn’t look right. I had to explain what every tube was to her sister, it was awful."
Holly can now talk and has been trying to walk with the help of a physio.
Her family does not yet know how long Holly will remain in hospital and if she may be able to come home for Christmas.
Natalya said: "I feel really sad, I just want the kids to have a good Christmas. I want to bring Christmas to them and I don't want Michelle to have the stress.
"Michelle got her leg amputated just below the knee in January. She had lots of issues with her foot and she had to have her leg taken off or it would have turned to sepsis.
"Michelle has not long got her prosthetic and she can’t walk very far. It’s a big struggle with her being in Blyth.
"I know the worst of it is over for Holly and that's a big relief - that was really, really scary. Now my main focus is this so they have the best Christmas possible."
A spokesperson for the force said: "Shortly before 8.15am on November 2, we received a repot of a collision at the junction of Newcastle Road and Laverock Hall Road, Blyth, involving child pedestrian and a car."
The spokesperson said emergency services attended and the girl was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured pelvis. They added: "The driver stopped at the scene and fully cooperated with police."
