COMA victim Adam Newsholme has one ambition in life - to play football again.>

Love of football inspires victim's recovery

Picture shows Adam Newsholme

COMA victim Adam Newsholme has one ambition in life - to play football again.

Adam, 23, who was unconscious for six months, is now on the way to achieving his precious dream - more than three years after a horrific car smash.

He has started running and kicking a ball again with the help of his fitness instructor Terry Rothwell, but he is still recovering from his injuries.

In November 1994 Adam swerved to avoid a deer and smashed his van into a brick barn in Cholesbury. He suffered such serious head injuries that when he emerged from his coma he had to learn to do everything afresh, including walking and talking.

At the time of the accident he was a strapping 19-year-old centre forward for Chiltern Athletic FC, with a big future ahead of him in football. Now he is working on building up his strength at Strides Health Club in Bois Moor Road, Chesham.

Adam, of Ashfield Road, Chesham, who was working as an electrician at the time of his crash, said: "I have a really strong belief in God and he has pulled me through all the worst times.

"I have missed playing football. It is the thing I have missed most, apart from driving." He added: "I am a whole lot more confident since I started fitness training at the end of January.

"I made up my mind to play football again on the night that I was able to walk again. It is my top target. I was really good at it and I was willing to pursue a future in football."

He said he was grateful to the team at Rayners Hedge, Aylesbury, an NHS-run community rehabilitation unit, where he received treatment, and to the staff at Strides.

Mr Rothwell, a part-time adviser at the gym, used to coach Adam's football team. He said: "He scored the best goal I've ever seen. He had a very promising football career ahead of him. His progression would have been Chesham United FC and then up."

Mr Rothwell has been in touch with a disabled sport organiser and is hoping Adam will be able to play football again. Mr Rothwell said: "We started off from square one and he has done some kicking of a ball. We're taking each step as it comes."

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