A young British woman given just a five per cent chance of survival after a horror skiing accident has bravely spoken about making a “miracle” recovery.
Olivia Corbiere, 23, suffered a brain bleed, lung damage, a broken pelvis and three fractured vertebrae when she fell 15ft (4.5m) down a ravine in Bansko, Bulgaria, in March.
Doctors who first tended to the stricken kitchen designer told her mum Linzi, 46, she had a limited chance of pulling through - and might never talk again if she did.
But remarkably, after Olivia was flown to Britain for treatment and spent a total of six weeks in hospital, she has been allowed to come home.
She still has some hearing loss and nerve damage on the right side of her face - affecting her eyelid movement - along with a wound at the back of her head.
But Olivia has now thanked her doting sister Phoebe Corbiere, 19, and five close friends who were with her when she had the accident for saving her life.
Speaking from her home in Aston, near Rotherham, South Yorks, she said: “The actions of my sister and my friends that day are the reason why I’m here.
“Three of them jumped into the ravine and helped get me out, and then the other ones called the emergency services.
“They didn’t even think for a second not to jump in, and they could have hurt themselves. They are incredible. They’re fabulous, they’re amazing.
“When I was in hospital I thanked them for doing what they did because they saved my life with how they reacted."
Linzi said she was stunned at Olivia’s progress since the accident – and praised the doctors in Britain and Bulgaria who had treated her girl.
She said: “It absolutely feels like a miracle.
“Don’t get me wrong, the Bulgarian neurosurgeon saved Olivia’s life, but the care back in England is second to none. They’ve checked up on her constantly.
“We were told she had a five per cent chance of living and may not speak, but she’s done all that, she’s proved them wrong, she’s getting stronger every day.
“Now, she can laugh and joke about herself and things like that – that’s really, really good. We’re absolutely over the moon."
Olivia had gone on the five-day spring ski trip with her sister and pals Laura Howe, 23, Charlotte Howe, 20, Georgia Cooke, 23, Ellise Cowley, 23, and Anastasia Griffith 23.
And on March 17, she had gone up to the top of the mountain range, in Western Bulgaria, early to maximize her time on the slopes.
But after lunch, as she was heading along a ski path, she tumbled down a ravine while going over some slushy snow.
Olivia said: “We met about 10am, and we were having a conversation about where we were going to eat. That was one of the last things I remember before my accident.
“My right ski crossed over my left ski, and that made me lose control. I then went into the ravine.
"Because there’s such a big drop, and because it was warmer weather and it had melted, I couldn’t turn out of it like I normally would."
Olivia Corbiere, 23, suffered a brain bleed, lung damage, a broken pelvis and three fractured vertebrae when she fell 15ft (4.5m) down a ravine in Bansko, Bulgaria, in March.
Doctors who first tended to the stricken kitchen designer told her mum Linzi, 46, she had a limited chance of pulling through - and might never talk again if she did.
But remarkably, after Olivia was flown to Britain for treatment and spent a total of six weeks in hospital, she has been allowed to come home.
She still has some hearing loss and nerve damage on the right side of her face - affecting her eyelid movement - along with a wound at the back of her head.
But Olivia has now thanked her doting sister Phoebe Corbiere, 19, and five close friends who were with her when she had the accident for saving her life.
Speaking from her home in Aston, near Rotherham, South Yorks, she said: “The actions of my sister and my friends that day are the reason why I’m here.
“Three of them jumped into the ravine and helped get me out, and then the other ones called the emergency services.
“They didn’t even think for a second not to jump in, and they could have hurt themselves. They are incredible. They’re fabulous, they’re amazing.
“When I was in hospital I thanked them for doing what they did because they saved my life with how they reacted."
Linzi said she was stunned at Olivia’s progress since the accident – and praised the doctors in Britain and Bulgaria who had treated her girl.
She said: “It absolutely feels like a miracle.
“Don’t get me wrong, the Bulgarian neurosurgeon saved Olivia’s life, but the care back in England is second to none. They’ve checked up on her constantly.
“We were told she had a five per cent chance of living and may not speak, but she’s done all that, she’s proved them wrong, she’s getting stronger every day.
“Now, she can laugh and joke about herself and things like that – that’s really, really good. We’re absolutely over the moon."
Olivia had gone on the five-day spring ski trip with her sister and pals Laura Howe, 23, Charlotte Howe, 20, Georgia Cooke, 23, Ellise Cowley, 23, and Anastasia Griffith 23.
And on March 17, she had gone up to the top of the mountain range, in Western Bulgaria, early to maximize her time on the slopes.
But after lunch, as she was heading along a ski path, she tumbled down a ravine while going over some slushy snow.
Olivia said: “We met about 10am, and we were having a conversation about where we were going to eat. That was one of the last things I remember before my accident.
“My right ski crossed over my left ski, and that made me lose control. I then went into the ravine.
"Because there’s such a big drop, and because it was warmer weather and it had melted, I couldn’t turn out of it like I normally would."
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FunTranscript
00:00Hi, my name is Olivia. I'm 23 years old. On March 17th, I had a skiing accident in Bulgaria.
00:09I fractured my pelvis, part of my spine and fractured my skull as well as my eye sockets.
00:18We'd finished skiing for the day, so it was just on the smaller part of the slopes called the ski road.
00:24Obviously my friends have told me as I don't remember parts of my accident.
00:30The weather on this lower part wasn't as great so the snow was a little bit choppy
00:37and it caused one of my skis to overlap the other and I wasn't able to straighten it up.
00:45I fell into a ravine. Three of my friends jumped into the ravine to lift me up as I was knocked unconscious.
00:52They climbed down the 20 foot drop.
00:54Two of my friends, one was my sister, they flagged down emergency services.
01:02Luckily there was a ski school passing so the instructor was able to radio for help quicker than what it would have been if we had to ring the snowmobile team.
01:12Then I was directed onto a snowmobile.
01:15My friends and passers-by, because the ravine water was cold, they put coats on me and stuff like that to keep me warm.
01:23Then I was taken to the hospital from there.
01:26I was in hospital for roughly about six and a half weeks.
01:29It was only the last two weeks that I remember from hospital.
01:32Whereas the times before that, the two weeks in Bulgaria hospital, I don't remember any of that.
01:39It was just a lot of physio that I was doing and then my friends and family coming to visit me and keeping me busy.
01:48I played a lot of games of Connect Four and a bit of Uno.
01:53Those are the only bits that I really remember from my time in hospital.
01:58When I kind of come back with my memory and stuff like that and realised why I was in there and what my accident was,
02:05there was discussions because I had an injury to my brain.
02:08They go into a place called Magnolia Lodge, which is like a rehabilitation centre.
02:13However, I did really want to go home to be with my family, my sister, my mum and dad and my dogs.
02:21Once I had the sign off to say that I was ready to come home, I was really grateful because I just wanted to go back.
02:31Even the comforts of your own home as well and being in your own room and your own bed and stuff like that.
02:36I really was grateful that I was well enough to go home.
02:41Once I am fully recovered, at the moment I'm not at work.
02:47I had brain surgery, so I've got to wait until I'm signed off by the neuro team to make sure that my brain is working properly and stuff like that.
02:56I want to be back at work.
02:59Once all my physio is completed, I want to be back at my football training with my team.
03:08Just be back to normal life, even little bits where me and some of my friends used to go to a spin class together.
03:16Just be back to complete normality.
03:21Hopefully that won't be too long.