A model has revealed how she tried to kill herself when a drink-driver put her in a coma after a head-on collision.
Rachel Downes was involved in the smashon November 21, 2021 while on her way to a photoshoot near her Newcastle-under-Lyme home.
The then 28-year-old had not been expected to survive the crash and despite regaining consciousness, was left with agonising injuries.
The model and part-time fitness instructor said she was in so much pain that just a year after surviving her horror crash, she tried to end her own life.
She said: 'I feel like I've survived twice.'
Rachel Downes was in a coma for three weeks after being hit in a head-on collision by a drink driver outsideNewcastle-under-Lyme
Rachel (pictured) recovering from her multiple surgeries with her dog. The model had broken almost every bone in her body and doctors didn't believe she would survive
The model was on her way to a photoshoot early on a Sunday morning when a driver smashed into her.
He had been driving to a fast-food restaurant with some friends, having gone out the night before.
A breathalyser test showed that he had 61 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Rachel said: 'When I found out that I was in this situation due to a drink-driver, I just had this surge of heat rush over my body.
It was a heat that stayed with me for a very long time, because I was so unbelievably angry.'
Rachel was trapped in the crushed vehicle for more than an hour and had to be freed by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
She was taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital where she remained in a coma for three weeks.
Staff at the hospital told Stoke on Trent Livethat it was a race against time to stabilise Rachel and assess the extent of her injuries.
Her ordeal was documented on 999: Critical Condition on Channel 5.
Rachel pictured with her partner Matt. She said that she was in so much pain after waking up from a coma that she contemplated taking her own life
Pictred being treated on 999: Critical Condition on Channel 5. Despite successful surgeries, Rachel's life was turned upside down by the drink-driver and she said she was in constant pain
Despite waking up from a coma and slowly recovering from her serious injuries, Rachel found it difficult to process the crash and was in constant pain.
She said: 'When I woke up from the coma, my body felt heavy and I couldn't move much. It's not something you can really imagine unless you've experienced it yourself.'
Around her full-time job, Rachel was also a passionate fitness instructor and, alongside her partner, Matt, she used to go outdoor rock climbing and bouldering.
She said: 'I wanted to be up on my feet right away. I don't think I even questioned why I was in hospital to begin with.
'To this day, I have no idea how I managed it, but I pulled myself up, shuffled myself to the very end of the bed and swung my legs through this gap in the safety bars that were on the side.
'I did manage to launch myself off the bed, but rather than landing on my feet, I landed straight on my face.'
It was only until after an MRI scan that she learned the full extent of the damage that had been done to her body.
She said: 'I asked the surgeon to give me a list of what I'd broken, to which he responded, 'It'd be easier for me to tell you what isn't broken' and then pointed at my shins and said, 'Just these'.'
She had suffered a brain injury and broken the top of her spine, part of her shoulder, her humerus on both sides and her elbow.
She had also broken eight to 12 ribs, shattered her pelvis and broken her knee and right femur, as well as suffering scarring all over her body.
She said: 'I don't remember specifically when I was told for the first time, but I kept having to ask my partner why I was in hospital.
'There were so many occasions where it must've felt to him like we were having the same conversation for the hundredth time, but I just couldn't compute anything.
'My partner wasn't there, so he couldn't give me many details, and neither could my parents, so the only people who truly knew what had gone on were the driver and potentially any witnesses.
'The facts are that I was left pretty much immobile following a crash that I had no memory of and that was caused by someone else's irresponsibility. How do you get your head around that?'
The model was in such pain thatone year on from the crash in September 2022 she tried to end her life.
She said: 'I tried to commit suicide. Thankfully - and I mean that with every fibre of my being - I never succeeded.
'But it's extraordinary to think that I went from being so close to losing my life in the car crash to then attempting to take it. In a way, I feel like I've survived twice.
Rachel added:'For a while, it felt like me against the world. I'm not a spiritual or religious person at all, but it did make me think 'How could God, the universe or whatever there is out there cause this to happen to me?'.
'But there I was, asking myself what I'd done to deserve it. That's not something that you can come to terms with overnight.
'For a lot of 2022, I went into a really dark place because I was so angry and I was in so much pain.
'It ended up getting to the point where I really wish that I had died because I felt like life would be easier if I had.
'I was pushing my loved ones away, which left them feeling helpless and insignificant.
'And then that left me feeling so unbelievably confused as to why I was acting like that. I understand now that part of that was the impact of the brain injury. It affected my memory and my mood severely.
'And then when I was told that people thought I was going to die and when my partner expressed to me how he felt coming to see me in hospital whilst I was in the coma, it just really got to me.
'He just said that he was so scared. He came so close to losing me.'
In July 2023, the driver, aged 23 at the time of the collision, was sentenced to 28 months in prison and disqualified from driving for 38 months, having pleaded guilty at Stafford Crown Court to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Rachel said her whole life had been turned upside down by the reckless decision of that drunk driver.
The fitness instructor said: 'I suppose that's the butterfly effect in practice - one person's decision to drink-drive has had all of these unimaginable consequences.
'It's affected so many things in my future. I was told that I probably won't be able to give birth naturally because of the damage caused to my body.
'Not only has that man's decision to drink-drive changed how I look, with all the scarring it's also eroded my autonomy and any plans that I might have had for the future and that hurts more than anything physically.'
Defiantly, Rachel has nothing to say directly to the man who caused the crash. She does, however, want to share a message to all other road users.
She said: 'Just be self-aware. Be aware of what you can handle and what you can deal with. And that's not just from an alcohol or drugs perspective - it could be from an emotional point-of-view too.
'If you're about to get behind the wheel of a car and there are any factors that could blur or obscure your ability to safely drive, just don't do it.
'Ask yourself 'am I in a responsible state to drive?'.
'We hope that people will abide by the law, but a lot of that only deals with what happens once people have already acted irresponsibly.
'Speed cameras can't pick people up before they've broken the speed limit. In the same way, a prison sentence can't undo all of the trauma and years of recovery for the victims - if they survive, that is.
'That's where the preventative measures have to come in, and I think a massive part of that begins with education. That's exactly why I'm talking to you now, to tell you, first-hand, about the very real effects that drink-driving can have.
'The fact that I have survived should not, in any way, negate the seriousness of drink-driving. It's still ruined my life and that of those around me and that will never change.'
For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit https://www.thecalmzone.net/get-support
