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Lindsay Wood's life was going well, at 18 years old she was about to take her driving test, had a lovely new boyfriend and was planning to train as a beauty therapist.
But her world came crashing down when the car she was driving was engulfed in flames after a crash on a final outing with her driving instructor.
As she pulled out of a side road, her instructor Shirley at her side, she crashed into another car.
The fuel tank in the car burst following the crash, fuel sprayed all over Lindsay and a spark ignited.
She suffered horrendous third degree burns on 42% of her body and had to be put into a coma.
More than a month later Lindsay woke up in the specialist burns centre in Morriston Hospital, Swansea after being transferred from Treliske Hospital in Cornwall.
Her parents Valerie and Robert, both 48, were waiting for her.
She said: "I was in agony, as soon as I opened my eyes and pain ripped through my whole body. I asked Mum what happened and she told me I'd been in a crash."
Her parents and told Lindsay that her driving instructor and the other driver had escaped unscathed from the accident.

PA Real Life Features.

Shocking crash: the car Lindsay had been driving after the crash

They explained how the car had burst into flames and she had been severely burnt.
She said: "My face, arms and legs were covered in burns and I had undergone numerous opeations while unconscious to remove the burnt skin.
"Surgeons had grafted skin from the backs of my thighs, the top of my arms and my bottom onto my burns.
"I couldn't take it in. All I really wanted to ask was, 'What do I look like?' But I was too scared.
"And the pained look on everyone's faces said it all. I was a monster."
"Robert was there too - he told me it was mid-October and I had been asleep for more than a month."
The pair had only been dating for a few months and her parents had told him he did not need to wait around when she was so ill.
But he wouldn't listen.

Lindsay said it was around this time she realised how special Robert was as he travelled hundreds of miles to see her every weekend.
"He never gave up on me. I would make my family get me ready for his visits, I made them brush my teeth and wash me.
"One day I asked dad why he wasn't brushing my hair. It turned out the doctors had shaved it off - I was gutted.
"But Robert didn't seem scared by the swathes of bandages covering my face, shaved hair or burnt skin.
"He told me on our first anniversary, when I'd been unconscious, he'd sat with me.
"When I asked him was he did, he said, 'I chatted to you'.
"He impressed my parents - they thought he was a keeper.
"I thought he was too - he didn't seem fazed by my mangled face, my bloody arms or stumped fingers - amputated as a result of the burns.

PA Real Life Features.

Shocking injuries: Lindsay, who suffered horrendous burns, recovering in hospital

"When I got down he would say, 'It'll get better', he was a constant presence, my shining light."
Lindsay said having her bandages changed was agonising.
"I was incredibly weak I couldn't even lift my arms," she said.
"I couldn't walk, hadn't even tried to get out of bed. Nurses had to wash me lying down and I couldn't even go to the loo or eat properly.
"I was tube fed for months, before having my mouth operated on.
"Despite this Robert was fantastic. I told him to leave me, but he said I was beautiful and brave and he wouldn't."
In around November 2009 Lindsay decided to look in a mirror for the first time.
She said he was awful but not as bad as she thought it would be.
Lindsay said: "I was sadder about my missing fingers on my both hands. I'd always wanted to get married at some point in the future and only had a stump where the ring should go."
She realised she would no longer be able to fulfill her dream of becoming a beauty therapist and instead focussed on physiotherapy.
Because of the seriousness of the burns she had to learn to walk again.
She said: "I repeatedly said I couldn't do it. I felt like a baby, learning to walk again.
"Every step with my walking frame felt like a mile. I would shout out but Robert was always there.
"Despite only being 21 and working full time as a sales assistant, he would come to the hospital, hold my hand, walk with me. He was fantastic.
"When I got depressed he told me he loved me."
In around December 2009 Lindsay was transferred from Swansea to Bodmin Hospital, nearer to her home in Cornwall, and her burns had become scabs.
"Even though I thought I looked horrible Robert would still tell me he loved me. And he would add, 'I fancy you too'."

Lindsay said: “It wasn’t easy. I was in and out of hospital five days a week, having physiotherapy, stretching my muscles and learning to walk. It was exhausting.
“In January 2010 Dad quit his job so he could help me.”
“In November 2010 – more than a year after the crash – Robert was with me when I took my first step without a walking frame. I was shattered.”
After Lindsay found her feet nothing could stop her. “I walked everywhere I could,” she said. With Robert by my side.
“In August 2011 Robert and I were in St Austell in Cornwall when he led me to a jewellery shop and asked me to pick out a ring.
“He told me he was proud of me and a week later got down on one knee. “As I looked at the pink sapphire glinting on my hand, I didn’t see scars. I saw a beautiful gem.”
On March 2, 2013, Lindsay and Robert married St Petroc’s Church in Bodmin.

PA Real Life Features.

Happy ending: Lindsay and Robert Wood's Wedding Day

Lindsay said: “I wore makeup to conceal my scars but I didn’t need to be self conscious, everyone said I looked lovely.
“At our reception at Lanhydrock Hotel nearby dad’s speech was emotional. He said he thought I might not walk again.
“Then he said he was so proud to walk me down the aisle.”

Lindsay and Robert are now living together, she has a full time job as a nursery nurse and has just passed her driving test.
The Law Society campaigned for her to be awarded £500,000 compensation for her injuries, paid for through insurance.
Lindsay finished: “When I think how far I’ve come I can’t believe it. “It’s all thanks to my fantastic family and Robert.”