Prize guy Craig fights back from horror road crash
ADAD who was left fighting for his life after a horrific hit and run accident is still recovering from the ordeal - but has won an award as he continues to battle back.
Pedestrian Craig Williams, 42, from the Weston Estate, was left in a coma following a collision with two cars A537 at Broken Cross in November last year.
As part of his recovery he was advised to gain weight but then told he was too heavy and needed to shed pounds.
So along with his wife Louise, 54, he joined his local Slimming World group at Calvary Church.
Despite still suffering the physical and emotional damage from the accident Craig has just won the group’s Mr Sleek award as voted for by fellow members.
And to make it a double celebration Louise was named Miss Slinky - the female equivalent.
Craig said: “I am doing alright and getting there slowly, I have lots of help and can’t do what I did before.
“I have mood swings, I can’t walk too far, I need a stick and if I go into town I get a wheelchair.
“I was gobsmacked to win the award, it gives you determination and a boost as it shows there are people who care and stand by you.
“I was quite emotional, the last year hasn’t been easy, but you keep going and you have bad weeks and good weeks.”
Craig, who has a son and daughter from a previous relationship, has been attending the group for 12 weeks and has already slimmed from 14 to 13 and a half stone.
Louise, a teaching assistant at All Hallows College, has been going a year and has lost around four stone.
The accident happened on November 3 as Craig walked home from playing pool.
He spent months in hospital - including several weeks in a coma before being advised to gain weight to aid his rehabilitation.
After putting on a stone he was then told this was not a healthy weight and he needed to change his diet because he had the onset of diabetes.
Although the memory
“The last year hasn’t been easy, but you keep going”
of the crash is still painful and Craig remains on sick leave from his job at Manchester Airport, he is playing pool again and says such things make him fell he has a ‘purpose’.
He said: “I remember more about what happened now but it is hard for me to talk about, it is too painful. I found losing weight very hard as I was in the house by myself and I can’t go out on my own so I’d normally be snacking.
Slimming World has taught me a lot about food and has been very useful, I have a very healthy diet and can even get into by best trousers and shirts I couldn’t before the accident.”
Julie Bowden, who runs the group, said: “It was so lovely to give them both these awards - the look on their faces when we announced them as winners was incredible.”
A woman was sentenced
in connection with the accident at Crewe Magistrates Court earlier this year.
Heather Keeling, 42, of Springfield Road, Macclesfield was convicted of failing to stop following a collision and drink driving. She was handed a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, a rehabilitation order, an alcohol abstinence order and disqualified from driving for three years.