WHEN promising young athlete Jonathan Pike was hit by a car in April 2002, doctors gave him just a five per cent chance of survival.

Four years later he is fighting to regain a taste of the life he says was snatched from him.

Jonathan, 24, remembers nothing of the accident in Undy village.

The keen footballer was home for the Easter holiday during his first year at Swansea Institute studying sports and leisure management.

Returning from an evening with friends, he was hit by a car and suffered serious head injuries.

He was in a coma for several months and initially his mother Claudia, 44, of Pennyfarthing Lane, Undy, said she feared his life support machine would be switched off.

When he came out of the coma Jonathan had to re-learn everything, even how to breathe, because of the damage to his brain.

He proudly shows off the scars where one tube fed him and another enabled him to breathe, and says triumphantly: "They said I would never be able to feed myself - but doctors don't know everything."

Mrs Pike said: "They told me he would never walk again either. They took away every hope I had and Jonathan proved them all wrong."

But Jonathan is under no illusions about what he has lost, saying: "It ruined my life."

Although the former Caldicot Comprehensive School pupil has no physical disabilities, he has mental disabilities and suffers from chronic depression.

Mrs Pike said: "His personality changed totally." Most of all Jonathan misses football and the active life he led before the accident.

He needs round-the-clock care for his own safety, as he has poor short-term memory and would be a danger to himself if left alone.

But Jonathan battled for a flat of his own in nearby Caldicot, where carers help him enjoy a degree of independence.

Mrs Pike said: "We had a lot of help but I am gobsmacked by his recovery. "His willpower is immense and his sense of survival must be beyond belief."