Hit-and-run girl Jodie heads home

By Emma Griffiths
BBC News Online, London

Jodie will have to give up her beloved football for now

Jodie Duffin is playing with her hair, asking her mum about lunch and jumping between seats in her room at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London.

Like many 12-year-old girls, she is a bit shy about talking to strangers.

But journalists are lining up to speak to her because she is the star of that rare phenomenon, a "good news" story.

Just five weeks ago, a photograph of Jodie hooked up to a life support machine and on a ventilator was published by her parents Bob and Mandie.

She was critically ill after being hit by a car near her home in Morden, south-west London, and the Duffins hoped the picture would bring the driver forward.

Meanwhile they were told to prepare themselves for the worst.

"She was run over on Saturday, by Tuesday I was told they didn't think she would make it through the night. They just couldn't get the swelling to go down," said Mr Duffin, a self-employed builder.

Jodie's parents hoped this picture would bring the driver forward

A CT scan showed Jodie had suffered brain damage and she was given paralysing drugs to take the pressure off her brain.

The couple practically moved into the hospital and kept talking to their unconscious daughter. They said all they could do was sit and watch.

But two weeks later, the breakthrough came when a nurse asked Jodie if she could hear her, and the 12-year-old was able to squeeze her thumb.

"It was amazing, like winning the Pools, Chelsea winning the Premiership and Christmas Day all in one - it was fantastic," Mr Duffin told BBC News Online.

Now, nearly five weeks after she was hit, Jodie is out of intensive care and is looking forward to going home on Friday.

It is too early to say if she will make a full recovery - she says she feels 100% and St George's says she is "in a stable condition and recovering well".

Her mum calls her a little miracle and says the nurses think Jodie's progress is "unbelievable".

But the keen sports player will need physiotherapy and has been told to lay off the football and trampolining for now.

The walls of the hospital room are plastered with cards

And the family will have to wait to see if damage to her brain affects her speech, memory, moods or concentration.

But Jodie says she will be back at Glenthorne High School in September and her parents are just glad to have her home.

Mrs Duffin says they are planning a quiet family night on Friday with her brothers, Harry, 10, and Bobby, 7, and her 15-year-old sister Kim.

"It was Bobby's birthday the day after [the accident] and Harry's since we've been here so we have got some making up to do," she said.

"Kim was really traumatised because she was at the scene and saw it from the beginning and Harry's very sensitive. It affects the whole family, friends and the whole community."

The walls of Jodie's hospital room are plastered with photos, balloons and cards from school friends, teachers, nurses, neighbours and strangers.

Jodie's parents have been at her bedside since the accident

The Duffins are full of praise for St George's staff and say they have been overwhelmed by the support from the community and beyond.

"We have had our friends, family and people who don't know us writing to us from all over the country saying: 'Don't give up'," said Mrs Duffin.

"People prayed for us and it really helped. Morden, as a community, has been brilliant."

Their experience has spurred the family into setting up the Jodie Duffin's Campaign, for which they have printed up to 40,000 leaflets.

Mrs Duffin said: "We are trying to drum road awareness into kids and the parents as well.

"I have always drummed it into my children and this has happened to us, so it can happen to anyone.

"I have been having flashbacks and have been trying to put it out of my mind because I think: 'She's got through it', but it will affect you for months and it will be with us for years."

A 31-year-old man arrested in connection with the incident has been released on police bail.

The Duffins are planning a fund-raising fun day at Carshalton Athletic Ground on 5 September for St George's charitable foundation, to thank the hospital.