Stephanie Inglis: Judo star speaks for first time since accident

Scots judo star Stephanie Inglis has spoken for the first time since she was badly injured in a motorbike taxi accident in Vietnam.

The 27-year-old Commonwealth Games silver medallist's parents, Alison and Robert Inglis, said their daughter had opened her eyes and said "Hi".

Her mother said the latest step in their daughter's recovery was "absolutely phenomenal".

The judo star arrived at Edinburgh Airport in an air ambulance on Monday.

Stephanie was taken to Edinburgh's Western General Hospital where she has been receiving care in a specialist unit.

She was flown from Thailand where she was treated in a Bangkok hospital for a serious head injury and also infections, including pneumonia.

Doctors in Vietnam had given her a 1% chance of surviving her injuries.

The Commonwealth Games silver medallist has been flown to Edinburgh

Alison Inglis said: "She opened her eyes and she looked and she mouthed 'Hi', and that was absolutely phenomenal.

"She's very determined, she's got a good determination. She is very disciplined, obviously with the sport that she did.

"Even when she started to waken up she opened her eye partly, then she started moving her hand and then when she started to become aware.

"We were trying to explain to her, you have fallen off a bike, you have to rehab and she is constantly moving her arms and legs.

"So I think the strength, disciple and her body strength is really what is bringing her through."

On the official SaveSteph Facebook page it said: "The first thing we learned was that Stephanie is now breathing without any assistance, however she still has the Tracheotomy in place and although she now has a speaking attachment in place this is causing her significant distress, and we will be relieved when this can be removed.

"Stephanie has now been cleared of all her infections and the hospital believes that she has fought and come through all of these, they are really happy with Stephanie and as soon as they can make her more comfortable they will.

"We met Robert and Alison in the visitors lounge and Alison told me Stephanie has been sleeping most of the day due to some pain killers she is on to help with her discomfort so not to expect much, as they made her drowsy.

"When we got to the room Stephanie was asleep, Alison gently awakened her and said Steph look who's here to see you, Steph partially opened her eye looked and when she saw me smiled and for the first time looked straight at me and said Hi, we were speechless I was over whelmed with the moment."

The judo athlete celebrating her success at the Commonwealth Games with her grandparents

Stephanie, who grew up in the Highlands but has been living in Dunfermline, had been transferred to Bangkok from a hospital in Vietnam where the accident happened on 10 May.

Her parents, who live in Daviot, near Inverness, flew to south-east Asia to be with their daughter.

Stephanie, who won her Commonwealth Games medal at Glasgow 2014, had been in Vietnam for about four months, teaching underprivileged children, when she suffered serious head injuries in the motorcycle accident.

Her skirt is believed to have become unravelled and caught in the wheel.

Friends and family set up a crowdfunding campaign to pay for her medical costs after it emerged her travel insurance was not valid because she had been in the country more than 31 days.