A teenager so badly injured doctors suggested turning off his life support is returning home to Blenheim eight months after being hit by a train.
Steven Evans, 18, was a passenger in a car which was struck by a train at a railway crossing in Grovetown, 5km north of Blenheim, in September last year.
He suffered brain injuries, spinal injuries, broken ribs and internal injuries. He was treated in intensive care in Wellington Hospital, before being transferred to the spinal unit at Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, where he has spent the last six months.
He is due to return home on June 10 and continue his rehabilitation at Wairau Hospital in Blenheim.
Medical specialists predicted the worst and as Steven lay in a coma family members were asked whether they wanted his life-support systems switched off.
They refused.
Steven's mother Sheryl Ruffell said his level of recovery had flummoxed health authorities.
"He's the only person in New Zealand to have survived such injuries," she told the Marlborough Express.
Steven could not speak on his own, but had been fitted with a tracheostomy respiratory aid, and was starting to talk through it.
He could also use a computer by typing with his right index finger.
His recovery was going to be a "long, gradual process", but Steven had "fantastic" support from family and friends, Mrs Ruffell said.
The driver of the car Steven's friend, teenager Christopher Evans (no relation), was this week convicted in Blenheim District Court of careless driving.
He was disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay Steven $10,000 reparation for emotional harm.