Miracle fightback of crash couple

A DEVOTED husband who was told his wife would never survive catastrophic injuries sustained in an horrific car smash spoke last night of her "miracle recovery".

Robert Lamb, who was also critically injured in the accident in April, described how he feared his wife would die after she was crushed in the driver's seat of their car.

Shirley Lamb was in a coma for more than four weeks after the car she and her husband were travelling in on their way home to Clare collided with another vehicle.

The pensioner suffered a broken left arm, three fractures to her right arm, two broken legs and multiple bruising as a result of being "thrown around like a rag doll" when their Fiat Marea collided with an Isuzu trooper along the A1092 between Long Melford and Clare.

The couple travelling in the Isuzu, who are from Haverhill, walked away from the crash with minor injuries.

Speaking from his bed in West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds, Mr Lamb, 69, told of how he woke from his coma nearly five days after the accident to find his wife was still unconscious.

"Although I was not really aware of what was going on after I woke up, the rest of the family had been told that my wife would not survive her injuries," said Mr Lamb, who suffered a torn aorta during the crash.

"After four-and-a-half weeks she regained consciousness, and day by day she started to get a little bit better. I overheard a doctor say that my wife had knocked on heaven's door, but for some reason it didn't open."

The couple, who have been married for 46 years and have one son, run the Agnus Antique shop in the village and are well known in the community.

Mrs Lamb has spent the last 30 years as the director of music at Barnardiston Hall Preparatory School and is an accomplished pianist.

"Neither of us has any recollection of the accident whatsoever, which is probably a good thing in a way," said Mr Lamb.

"Shirley is making remarkable progress and although she has not yet been able to stand, we have been told she could be walking again within the next 18 months."

Giles Lamb, 38, who travels with his wife Amanda from their home in Kent to see his parents as often as possible, kept a bedside vigil at the hospital for the first three weeks after the accident.

The couple wed on June 4 after months of planning, but cancelled the honeymoon and postponed the reception until a further date.

"The family has been wonderful and I don't know what I would have done without Giles, as he has taken care of everything for me," said Mr Lamb.

"I should be able to leave hospital within the next two or three weeks, and I hope that Shirley will not be too far behind me.

"At the moment we are both just trying to concentrate on getting better, and taking one day at a time.

"My wife should be dead so anything that happens from now on is just a bonus.

"Shirley is a bit dismayed at the length of time the doctors have given her before she recovers properly, but I am just glad that they have given her any length of time at all.

"We are both looking forward to seeing the rest of our lives out together and I am just so grateful she survived."

Mr Lamb's son, who recently brought his two children, Sophie, nine, and five-year-old Bethany with him to see their grandparents in hospital, said: "It was such a shame that my parents missed our wedding because they had been so excited. It has been a very traumatic time for us but we are just thrilled that they both survived."