Whangarei woman Alison Bryant has been unable to sleep since losing her leg in a "freak accident" more than a year ago.
Despite the insomnia, the 23-year-old, who prefers to be called "Alley", says she's slowly waking up from the nightmare she has been enduring.
In April last year Alley was found lying motionless in a pool of blood after a suspected drink-driver crashed into a one-tonne limestone rock on Raumanga Valley Rd. The rock is understood to have hurtled through the air for about 8m before it struck a footpath and broke into three large pieces.
Initially it was thought a piece of rock struck her. However, doctors told Alley they believed her injuries were caused by car tyres.
The then NorthTec business administration student had been at a friend's house in Raumanga before she left to walk and meet her ride home at the Information Centre in Raumanga around 1.20am.
"What I remember is walking down Raumanga Valley Road and the next minute I see my mate. After that, I remember being on the ground not being able to feel my legs, and the lady that saved my life saying that I was going to be OK," Alley recounted.
The accident left her with a mangled left leg, a large gash in her right leg and a cut in her head that had to be stapled together. "With the injuries I had I'm lucky to be alive."
Alley was transferred to Middlemore Hospital the day of the accident and surgeons acted quickly with a seven-hour operation to save the then 22-year-old's left leg.
Initially the surgery was deemed a success and Alley was told her leg was saved. But two days later the celebration was cut short with news that her leg had to be removed because there was no blood supply to the severely injured limb.
"It was like a bad dream, I was thinking 'why me?'," Alley said.
"I didn't deserve this when all I was doing was trying to get home. I was feeling scared and like my life was over."
She said her first thought was that she would never walk again.
The situation grew worse when Alley became ill with pneumonia and was placed into a two-day coma to allow her body to heal.
She was in hospital for a month before she was discharged and began the process of learning to walk again.
The hardest part was finding the motivation to do her daily rehabilitative exercises, Alley said. But she stayed positive.
"Once I got used to it, I was breezing through it ... I was walking with crutches within three days, I was out by day four."
Slowly she is regaining her independence with the help of a fitted prosthetic leg and a determined attitude.
"I bounced back so fast because I thought to myself how lucky I am to be alive and that helped me a lot."
But simple tasks are still a struggle.
"Having a shower is so much harder because I can't use the leg in the shower.
"Moving furniture is so much harder and difficult, and being careful when I'm walking not to trip over," Alley said.
Finding work after the accident has been tough but Alley is determined to secure a job in her new hometown in Auckland.
Whangarei man, Poharama Nopera, 28, was charged with failing to stop and ascertain injury in Whangarei District Court following the incident.