Baby joy for Vicki
THE 25-YEAR-OLD FEARED SHE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN
ALTON Towers Smiler crash survivor Vicky Balch has shared her joy at the arrival of her baby boy.
The 25-year-old amputee lost her leg on the Smiler ride at the theme park in 2015 and has previously told how she feared she would never be able to have children after the accident. Now she has taken to Instagram to share the happy news with her followers.
Vicky said: “Finally ready to introduce the newest member of our family Venanzio Joseph Manciocchi born 12/3/2021 after an emotional rollercoaster which ended in emergency C-section and 3 nights in Neonatal; the family is finally home and ready to enjoy many memories.”
At the time of announcing her pregnancy, Vicky revealed: “Dino and I are so happy to be expecting. It is just the best news after everything that has happened – I can’t quite believe we are going to have a baby.
“After the accident, I lay in my hospital bed devastated that I had lost my leg and that life would never be the same again.
“I would not get to wear the lovely shoes I had at home or go out dancing with my university friends or feel like a woman again. I did say to my mum, ‘No one is going to want me like this.’ Even having a relationship seemed impossible, let alone having a baby.
“At times I was in so much pain that just making it through the day was tough enough, let alone thinking of my future and a family.
“I was also worried because of the extent of my injuries that my fertility may be affected and a few months after the accident I saw a specialist to find out if it would still be possible for me to conceive. Thankfully, I was told that it was.”
Vicky was among 16 people injured when a roller-coaster car hit an empty carriage stranded on the track at the Staffordshire theme park in June 2015. Alton Towers was fined £5million.
Dino and Vicky got together in 2016 but have known each other for years as he is the brother of her best pal, reports Birmingham Live.
The couple previously lived in Preston, Lancashire, and Dino, who owns pizza oven company Valoriani, proposed last December at the Mottram Hall hotel in Cheshire.
He scattered rose petals on the bed, filled their room with dozens of balloons and, on bended knee, handed Vicky an engagement ring he had designed.