One minute she was laughing with friends, the next she was knocked unconscious on the floor after a drink driver hit her at 40mph while walking back to a hotel after enjoying a night out.
Now, less than two weeks after her life was turned on its head, 27 year old Jade Pointer is using her horrific experience to urge people to never get behind the wheel after drinking.
Captain of the ladies March Hares football team, Jade suffered a bleed on the brain, extensive bruising, fractures and internal injuries on top of the emotional trauma of the worst experience of her life.
She said: “If seeing this makes at least one person not get into their car after drinking it’s worth it,” she said.
“It’s crazy to think how quickly life can change in a split second, the last memory I had is laughing with friends, the next was waking up in hospital.
“The doctor said I’m extremely lucky. In his words it’s a miracle I’m still here, let alone talking and functioning pretty well. The paramedics on the scene saved my life that night.”
Jade had been at the Castle nightclub in Norwich to celebrate the birthday of her partner Kirsty Ray, 27, and, along with a group of friends, was walking back to their hotel at about 3am when she was hit by a female motorist who was three times over the limit.
Jade, who works at ALS Food and Pharmaceutical in Chatteris, said: “The pain I’m going through and the emotional pain my family and close friends have gone through has been horrible.
“The driver had no idea if I was alive when they took me in the ambulance, I was unconscious the whole time.
“Even if a person could live with the thought of doing that, they still may have messed up their life by being arrested and having to deal with the consequences.
“Never put yourself in that situation.
“The last week has been surreal. Anyone who knows me knows I laugh and make jokes of serious situations to deal with them,” she said, but added the seriousness was sinking in with the realisation that she could have lost her life.
Her mum, Gail McCourt, of Smith’s Drive, March, said: “It was the news no parent wants to hear - my daughter had been in an accident and was unresponsive.
“Jade loves life, she loves her football, I keep thinking ‘what if’.
“She might not be here from one person’s stupid decision.”
Norfolk Police confirmed that a woman in her late teens was arrested for drink driving and has been bailed to appear at Norwich Police station on March 29.
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