Schoolboy using baking to aid recovery after horror smash
Joe Boyer, 14, of Derwent View, Mastin Moor, was involved in the collision on Lowgates, Staveley, in April.
The Netherthorpe School pupil was airlifted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital with injuries to his brain, back, neck, legs, kidneys, liver, spleen, pelvis and suffered burns all over his body. He was in a coma for two weeks.
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Hide AdThe football enthusiast’s mum Marie, 40, said: "We nearly lost Joe a couple of times.
"Even when he started waking up we weren’t sure if he would be able to communicate anymore.
"It was when he started talking again that I felt a massive sense of relief – it was like a huge weight had been lifted.
"At first Joe was incredibly confused.
"He was on a lot of medication for his injury and a lot of the time he couldn’t tell what was going on.
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Hide Ad"At one point he woke up saying ‘I just want to be a real boy again’ because he was convinced he wasn’t really there.
"When Joe was well enough he started working a lot with the ward play specialists, who were just amazing.
"They baked with him a lot and doing simple things like holding a spoon and mixing helped him to use his hands more and more.
"They had been badly burned and scarred in the accident and it was a way of getting him back into the routine of using them.
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Hide Ad"Joe started saying he wanted to be a baker from the age of three and he’s never changed his mind since.
"He was always the first one in the queue when they did it at school.
"Being able to bake in hospital really helped to give him a bit of normality."
Marie added: "We were able to take Joe home after five weeks.
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Hide Ad"Now that we’re at home together we’ll definitely be doing a lot of baking!
"It doesn’t just keep him occupied – it also really helps with his co-ordination – so we want to keep it up."
Joe’s family recently held a charity night which raised £900 for the air ambulance which took him to the hospital.
Marie added: "We’re not one hundred per cent sure Joe will ever make a full recovery from his brain injury.
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Hide Ad"He’s improved so much but even now sometimes he’ll ask you the same question and not remember we’ve already spoken about it.
"He’s attending physio and the burns unit so it’s just going to be a long drawn-out process now - But all you can do is get on with it."
She also praised Sheffield Children’s Hospital, which provides world-class expertise to thousands of youngsters.
If you want to support children like Joe, why not take inspiration from his baking and sign up to the Bake it Better Day on Friday to raise money for Sheffield Children's Hospital. Visit here for more information.