HAMMOND DESCRIBES JOURNEY BACK FROM THE DEAD

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond revealed in an exclusive interview with The Mirror just how close he was to death.

Speaking for the first time since his horror crash in a jet-powered Vampire dragster at Elvington airfield near York, Hammond said: “I was upside down inhaling a field. My nose and eyes were full of earth. My very last thought was ‘Oh bugger, that’s gone wrong. Well, we’re checking out now. You’ve had it!’"

Hammond was air-lifted to Leeds general infirmary where he was treated for a life-threatening brain injury.

“Doctors use a points system. Fifteen is normal, three is flatline. I was a three. I was that close to being dead. It was 50/50 what was going to happen. I may have been dead. I may not have woken up.�

In The Mirror exclusive, Hammond also revealed how his injury reduced him to a child like state and how Lego aided his subsequent rehabilitation.

“I regressed into a little boy. All my emotions became very childlike, very fragile. I was a Lego fiend when I was eight and, suddenly, that’s all I wanted to do again. James May sent me a massive tractor with a plough on the back. It’s really good therapy for a brain injury. Brilliant for spatial awareness.�

Although Hammond is ready to go back home only five weeks after his accident, he still faces a lengthy spell of rehabilitation in order to recover from his mental trauma. But there are already encouraging signs that the ‘Hamster’ millions of Top Gear fans know and love is getting back to his cheeky old self.

“Do you realise how annoyed I am that I’ve got no marks on me? Absolutely nothing at all, nothing for the pub. I’ve been through hell and I’ve got nothing to show for it except a chipped tooth! I’m gutted.�

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