A brave Shepton Mallet woman is rebuilding her life after a horrific car accident left her with serious leg injuries.

Farmer's wife Debbie Bailey, aged 36, said she would not have got through the past three months if it had not been for the love and support of her family and friends, and the expertise of her doctors and nurses.

Debbie says she wants her story to be one of hope and triumph over adversity, giving strength to people who might be struggling with their own problems.

Debbie was involved in an accident with a car on the Old Wells Road on March 12, while standing next to a trailer helping her husband Jim load cattle.

She said: "I remember being lifted up on the bonnet of the car and smashed against the trailer.

"I was drifting in and out of consciousness and there was blood everywhere – I lost an artery in my leg and nine pints of blood. The pain was so excruciating."

Because of mist in the area that morning the air ambulance was unable to land and Debbie was rushed to the Royal United Hospital in Bath by ambulance.

She underwent emergency surgery and endured four operations and weeks in three different hospitals – the RUH, Frenchay and the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Debbie said: "I was only just getting back to normal after I broke my leg while walking the dog in June last year and had to have a rod fitted then in my leg. The force of the accident caused the rod to shatter and fly across the road."

During her slow recovery process Debbie has undergone painful skin grafts from her back and thigh to rebuild her shattered right leg, now encased in a cast with rods supporting it.

Back at her home in Darshill she is on the road to recovery. She is facing a further two years of treatment and is determined to make it.

She said: "My leg will never be the same again. But I am determined not to let this disfigurement and disability get the better of me and I will not let it ruin my life. I will not be negative."

Debbie said if it had not been for the support, love and care of Jim, their families, friends, and her strong faith, she would not know how to get through it.

Debbie said: "Jim has been my rock throughout all this – he came to the hospital every night without fail, even after doing a hard day's work on the farm.

"There are times when I have thought 'why has this happened to me?' But it certainly puts things in perspective and makes you look at things differently and realise what the truly important things in life are.

"The emergency services and the doctors and nurses have been just incredible. I will never forget the policewoman who held my hand and kept talking to me as I lay in the road.

"I have so much to be thankful for – I am alive, I am not in a wheelchair and soon I will be able to walk again.

"After all, my heart is not broken – nor is my head – and I still have my leg. It's just it's not quite the same as it was. I am making the best of it and doing well – and my husband is proud of me."