NINE months ago brave Kyle Knights was fighting for his life in the intensive care unit of Ipswich Hospital.An horrific scooter accident just two days after his 16th birthday left the youngster in a coma from which doctors feared he might never recover.

NINE months ago brave Kyle Knights was fighting for his life in the intensive care unit of Ipswich Hospital.

An horrific scooter accident just two days after his 16th birthday left the youngster in a coma from which doctors feared he might never recover.

Devoted parents Kelvin and Maria gave up their jobs and watched over their beloved son 24 hours a day in the hope that he would wake up.

It was a painstaking and anxious wait but the couple, who live in Pinewood, never lost hope.

And, following around six months of gruelling rehabilitation at the Coleman Hospital in Norwich, Kyle returned home last week and is on the way to making a miraculous recovery.

Although doctors feared he might never walk or talk again the courageous teenager, whose brother is former Ipswich Town footballer Darryl, has proved the medics wrong.

Mrs Knights, 42, said: “In September last year the prognosis was quite grim. He woke up from his coma in October and would drift in and out of consciousness for about 10 or 15 minutes. In November we were transferred to the Coleman rehabilitation hospital in Norwich.

“The staff took Kyle on board from day one and kept pushing and supporting him. They obviously knew his limits but even when we thought he looked poorly and tired they still encouraged him do things.

“The whole team is geared towards rehabilitation. Even when the cleaners would see him they would say 'hey, Kyle, come over here', just to make him walk that little bit further.”

Kyle, a former Chantry High School pupil, was up and walking by the beginning of the New Year - despite suffering water on the brain.

Kyle was injured along with another teenager when their mopeds were in collision with a Ford Mondeo at the junction of Orford Street and Anglesea Road, Ipswich, on August 21 last year.

The driver of the car, 30-year-old Stephen Barwick, of Marlow Road, Ipswich, was jailed for 16 months at a hearing in December after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

The judge at Ipswich Crown Court also disqualified him from driving for two years and ordered that his car be destroyed.

Kyle, who was left with severe head injuries, a broken leg, two broken ribs, a broken collar bone and a bruised lung, was initially taken to Ipswich Hospital for treatment but within hours was transferred to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, where he spent four weeks in intensive care and underwent a string of lifesaving operations.

He returned to Heath Road in September - where he stayed until he was taken to the rehabilitation centre in Norwich.

The family know there is still a tough road ahead with two more operations on the horizon and follow up physiotherapy sessions at the Icanho rehabilitation centre in Stowmarket, which start on Monday.