A MOTHER-OF-TWO told today how she went on a joyride for fun - and paid the price by losing an arm.
Helen Power was thrown from a car in a notorious accident on the A64 in North Yorkshire, which also left a policeman blinded in both eyes.
She said, as well as having to have her left arm amputated, she also broke her back in the accident and could have been paralysed for life. She had a bad facial cut and could have been blinded, and also suffered a punctured lung and broken ribs.
She decided to speak out for the first time about her experiences to throw her support behind The Press' Live Now, Drive Later campaign, which aims to prevent other youngsters being maimed or killed after taking cars.
"I learned my lesson the hard way," said Helen, now 30, of Roche Avenue, Bell Farm, York. "I want other teenagers to learn their lesson without going through what I have."
She said she was 16 years old and, because of family problems, living in a care home in Hull Road when she went for a ride in a Vauxhall Astra which had been taken by a young man.
She said she thought it would be fun but also felt under peer pressure to go in the car, saying she risked being called chicken if she refused.
"I never thought it would end up like this. I thought that even if we did crash, I would just get a couple of bruises. I never guessed I would lose my arm," she said.
They went up the A64 to Scarborough where she slept in the car overnight, and the following day returned towards York. She said a policeman saw them and gave chase along the A64 until both vehicles crashed head-on with a truck coming in the other direction.
"I don't remember the accident, but I was thrown from the back of the car and ended up about 100 yards away. There was no seat belt. I was sitting in the back and not all cars had rear seat belts in those days.
"I woke up in Jimmy's (St James's Hospital, Leeds) five days later. They had thought I might not make it. I was in a lot of pain. I didn't know it but my hand had been pulled off. They tried to save my arm before I woke up, but there had been nerve damage and they had to amputate it just below the shoulder."
She said her parents told her she had lost the arm five days after waking up. "I took it reasonably well," she said.
"I was left-handed but was determined to learn to write again with my right hand, and also to draw. I liked to draw a lot. I could either give up or get on with my life, and I wanted to do that."
Helen said she succeeded in learning to write again, and went on to have two children, Jake, 12, and Kira, five.
She is now determined to learn to drive in a specially-adapted car, as it would make life much easier looking after her family.
She said Jake knew all about what had happened in the crash, and was aware of the dangers of joyriding.
Helen said she would be happy to recount her experiences in a video to be produced by The Press, which the paper hopes will be shown to teenagers at schools across the York area to highlight the dangers of taking cars.
A stark message
FORMER North Yorkshire policeman Ken Moss, who was blinded in the crash which cost Helen Power her left arm, has also given his backing for our Live Now, Drive Later campaign.
He said his message to any youngster thinking of taking a car was simple: "Don't! You might think it's just a bit of fun at the time, but you may end up killing or maiming yourself or someone else."
Ken, now 49, of Scarborough, was left fighting for his life in 1992 when his patrol car crashed into a lorry at 57mph on the A64 near Malton, during a pursuit of the car in which Helen Power was a back-seat passenger.
He experienced a catalogue of injuries in addition to the total loss of sight in both eyes, including ankle, wrist, foot and leg injuries and a collapsed lung, and his face had to be rebuilt.
He said his lost sight meant he had never seen his son as an adult, or seen his grandchildren.
But he has devoted countless hours to spreading the message about the dangers of joyriding, giving talks at schools, prisons and scout and guide meetings.
He has also appeared before in videos about the devastating effects of joyriding on those involved, and said he would be happy to appear in The Press video as well.
In the 1990s, Ken hit the headlines for getting back behind the wheel of a car and winning the world record for being the fastest blind man on four wheels.
Aided by high-tech equipment to keep him on the straight and narrow, he drove along a runway in 1999 at 131mph.
He said he wanted to prove that given the right support, disabled people were just as capable as able-bodied people.
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