Crash victim swaps bikes for sheep

Samantha Robertson has made a remarkable recovery after her horrific accident. Photo / Dean Purcell

Badly hurt when hit by a car a year ago, tough youngster is enjoying life again and has new favourite pastime.

Almost a year after being hit while riding her bike, Samantha Robertson has swapped cycling for sheep riding.

"I like to ride the sheep, that's a new sport I have," she said.

The then-10-year-old was riding her bike down a friend's drive on January 31, when she overshot on to the road, into the path of a car.

She wasn't wearing a helmet and ended up in Starship Hospital in a coma for 10 days.

She admitted soon after she woke up: "I'm very lucky I didn't die."

Samantha recuperating in Starship hospital after sustaining a serious head injury as a result of a cycling accident. Photo / Chris Loufte

The force of the collision threw her into the air. When she landed her head was cracked open, her arm was bent under her, and both legs were badly damaged - her left femur was shredded, leaving the bone exposed.

Now she's back, running, laughing, playing, and showing no lasting effects from the smash. And she's got a new game.

Her mum would rather she didn't ride bikes again just yet - although she has, at a friend's house - so she's taken up a different hobby on the farm in Pukekawa, south of Auckland.

"I put my arms around the necks [of the sheep]," she explained, "and put my legs on their backs.

"They normally just take off running. The best part is when they run."

It's a far cry from where she was in February, unconscious on a hospital bed with no guarantees she would wake up or, if she did, whether she would be herself.

Her mum, Sherry Coulson, (left) calls the 11-year-old "an inspiration".

"When she was hit, her head bled out quite horrifically. Seeing her on the side of the road, that was just the toughest thing.

"[Then at hospital] it was all up in the air. The doctors had told me her brain would be like scrambled eggs. I can't tell you how hard it was.

"When she came to, I was just over the moon."

Since then, though, her daughter is back to full speed. Following a fortnight at a recovery unit after hospital, she was back home and back to school.

Samantha will next year start intermediate school. At the end of January, 12 months after the crash, her mum said she'll allow her to ride her pony again and maybe ride a bike.

"She's a pretty tough little girl. She's just incredible."