A young girl escaped serious injuries after falling from a tree near her Thetford home.

Laila Sage, eight, is recovering at home after falling around 13ft from a tree in Icknield Way.

She was climbing to explore a bird’s nest when a branch snapped, causing her to fall on to concrete pavement head first.

Friends quickly raised the alarm and fetched her parents, Shane and Rebecca Sage, who ran to the scene from their nearby home in St Margaret’s Crescent.

They found their daughter unconscious.

“The worst things flash through your mind,” said Mr Sage, 29.

“When we arrived, she tried to stand up but just kept falling. It was just an absolute nightmare.”

Mrs Sage added: “It’s been the most difficult week of our lives.

“It is a parent’s worst nightmare but I am so glad she is now home where she belongs.”

Laila was rushed to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds following the fall at around 6pm on July 7.

A brain scan revealed a fracture in her skull.

She was then transferred to see more specialist neurosurgeons at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, who discovered she was bleeding on the other side of her brain.

Luckily, the bleeding stopped after a couple of days and Laila was allowed to go home.

Her parents say she is now back to her playful self – even if she is a little more wary of climbing trees.

“Hopefully, she’s learned her lesson,” Mr Sage said.