VICKY Kelcher cannot wait for the day when she will be able to move freely again.To be able to stand, and walk the corridors at her new college with her friends, is a dream she must wait for.

VICKY Kelcher cannot wait for the day when she will be able to move freely again.

To be able to stand, and walk the corridors at her new college with her friends, is a dream she must wait for.

For the moment, 16-year-old Vicky is simply lucky to be alive.

Her pelvis is encased in a metal frame, as surgical pins hold the smashed bones in place.

Her broken left leg is swathed in bandages, and an angry scar shows where surgeons had to graft skin onto her thigh, to repair the damage inflicted when a car ploughed into her from behind.

Vicky, of Chaucer Road, Felixstowe had been walking with her boyfriend Ty Freer in Garrison Lane, when a black Mercedes driven by businessman Peter Whalley left the road, narrowly missing Ty by inches, and crushed Vicky against a brick wall.

She underwent several operations at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, and was then moved to Ipswich Hospital.

But despite her tender age and serious injuries, there's no mistaking Vicky's determination to get better – and fast!

Her dad David, 46, said: "She's getting better much faster than everyone expected, and we're delighted to be taking her home already. It'll help her recovery to be at home now."

Vicky is due to return home this week.

It will be three weeks before she can have the metal frame taken off her pelvis, and she said she would be glad when that day came.

She admitted: "It is painful at the moment, and some of the pins have got infected so that hasn't helped.

"They pinned my leg too, instead of putting it in a plaster cast because that would have been too heavy and slowed me down."

David added: "I think she's also looking forward to having the frame taken off, so she can lie in a more comfortable position."

Vicky is eager to come home, but doctors have told her that for the time being, she must rest and recuperate, however frustrating that will be.

It will be another two months before she can try to walk again.

She is continuing with her childcare studies at Suffolk College – which she started in September after sitting her GCSE exams at Deben High School last summer – and has arranged for work to be sent home to her.

She did not want to recall the accident.

Her mum Wendy, 41, who was told a weaker adult would not have survived such injuries, said: "We are lucky to have her."

On behalf of the family, including Vicky's 14-year-old brother Andy, she thanked the emergency services staff who attended the accident on December 8.

She added: "As a family, we are extremely grateful for what they did at the scene of the accident, and we'd also like to thank all the medical staff who looked after Vicky in hospital afterwards."

Mr Whalley was arrested at the scene, but was not charged and was released on police bail until January 3, pending further investigations.