'I was hit by a car, thrown on the bonnet then run over'

Rebecca O'Malley had to wear a neck-to-rib brace until she was stable enough to have surgery on her spine

A woman who was hit by a car, thrown on to its bonnet and then run over, leaving her with injuries that felt like "torture", has said she cannot recollect the event but is grateful to be alive.

Rebecca O'Malley, 31, a speech and language therapist from Clapham, south-west London, was walking along the pavement last year when she heard a "loud revving" noise behind her.

After being hit by the car, she suffered injuries including broken ribs, skull fractures, a shoulder injury, a dislocated hip, spinal fractures and severe road rash.

Just over a year later, Ms O'Malley is back at work and has started running again, describing her recovery as "miraculous".

Ms O'Malley went travelling before she was hit by the car

"I remember waking up in hospital and being told that I'd been in an accident," she said.

Although it was not determined exactly what happened, Ms O'Malley's injuries suggested she was hit by the car, thrown on to the bonnet and then went under the moving vehicle.

An off-duty A&E nurse, who Ms O'Malley described as her "guardian angel", was one of the first on the scene after hearing the incident nearby.

Firefighters from the station across the road, the London Ambulance Service and the air ambulance were also called in.

"You wish it didn't happen to you but then you're grateful that, when it did, the right people were there for you," Ms O'Malley said.

She was placed into an induced coma and has surgery on the right side of her chest to release the trapped air and blood which had caused her lung to collapse.

Ms O'Malley underwent long surgeries on her arm and shoulder, fusing the bones back together with metal plates

The hospital also confirmed she had broken the majority of her ribs on the right side, had skull fractures, a broken clavicle, a broken scapula and a degloving injury to her shoulder.

She had multiple fractures on her spine, causing compression on her spinal cord, a dislocated hip, an open fracture on her arm, as well as severe road rash across various parts of her body.

She underwent surgeries on her arm and shoulder, which fused the bones back together with metal plates, and she was placed in a neck-to-rib brace until she was stable enough to have surgery on her spine.

"The level of pain I had, the level of injuries I had, it was like being stuck in a torture chamber," Ms O'Malley said.

"I couldn't move and I couldn't communicate, other than giving a wobbly thumbs up or thumbs down."

Ms O'Malley has said she is now living a relatively "normal life", just with "lots of scarring".

As well as thanking the emergency services who came to her aid on the day she was run over, and she also hopes to one day complete a fundraising running event for London's Air Ambulance Charity and St George's Hospital, to give back to the teams who helped to save her life.