A grandmother who was left in a coma and spent nearly three months in hospital after a car crashed into her moped today blasted the sentence handed to the teenage driver responsible.

Doctors twice told Sandra Edwards she would not survive as she battled life-threatening injuries at Addenbrooke’s Hospital following the horror accident in Colchester Road in April.

She made an emotional return to her Dale Hall Lane home yesterday following her incredible recovery – which included a TEN HOUR operation.

Mrs Edwards has lost the sight in her left eye and is now confined to a wheelchair.

The crash was caused by Ryan Matticks, 19, of Aldercroft Road, Ipswich, who was yesterday fined £280 by magistrates who also endorsed his licence with five penalty points.

But Mrs Edwards, a 57-year-old home carer, said: “I think it’s a ridiculous sentence.

“It has ruined my life. I love my job but I can’t work because I won’t be able to drive for at least another year – and probably never again.

“I can’t see out of my left eye – I can’t open my eyelid. The hospital said it is unlikely it will fully recover.

“I lost all my teeth except one. I broke my hand, my kneecap was smashed in, I can’t bend my fingers.

“I’ve lost two stone and need to eat liquidised foods. I’m in a wheelchair. Everything has changed now.

“He needs to learn from this. He needs to learn to be more responsible for his own actions.

“I’m just glad to be home now.”

She was returning home on her Piaggio moped after visiting a patient in St Augustine’s Road, Ipswich, when she was hit by the teenager’s blue Vauxhall Corsa just before 8.30pm on April 9.

She was taken to Ipswich Hospital before being transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Surgeons operated on her for 10-and-a-half hours before she was put in to an induced coma for three weeks.

Mrs Edwards, who says she still can’t remember what happened, said: “I woke up three weeks later in a hospital bed and had no idea where I was.

“I couldn’t remember anything about what happened. I had no memory of anything. I didn’t know who I was.

“I thought my late husband David was still alive. I was told to say goodbye to my family twice. But I came through and now I’m back with my family.”

Mrs Edwards lives with her daughter Nicola Tuck, 33.

“It has devastated our lives,” Mrs Tuck said.

“We will not have the freedom we used to. Young drivers must check and check again on the roads.”

A Suffolk County Council carer will now visit Mrs Edwards every day over the next few weeks.

“I wish to thank all the medical staff and doctors who treated me,” Mrs Edwards added. “They were brilliant and helped me a lot.”

Are road laws tough enough? Write to Your Letters, Ipswich Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email starnews@archant.co.uk