Rachael Thorold, the mother of five-month-old Louis who was killed when a van struck his pram, has spoken of her grief and determination to recover from her severe injuries. The incident occurred on 22 January on the A10 in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, when a van left the road and hit the pram Mrs Thorold was pushing.
Mrs Thorold, 36, spent 118 days in hospital with multiple broken bones and a brain injury. Her husband Chris said medics did not expect her to survive the first 72 hours, calling her survival 'quite miraculous'. She suffered a skull fracture, broken cheek bones, a broken jaw, several broken vertebrae, a broken arm, pelvis, hip, and bones below the knee.
Mrs Thorold, who has no memory of the crash, said her grief is an 'ongoing process' that will likely take the rest of her life to overcome. She described Louis as 'perfect' and said she had waited a long time for him, having undergone IVF. Her motivation is to 'get back to who I was and that's the person who Louis was totally in love with'.
Although physically 'better', Mrs Thorold still has significant muscular issues and is mentally 'a bit slower' due to her brain injury. She is undergoing rehabilitation for the rest of the year and hopes to be in a good position to consider starting a family in 2022.
Mr Thorold has established the Louis Thorold Foundation to prevent infant pedestrian deaths, raising nearly £50,000. He highlighted the high number of child road fatalities, saying 'there are too many statistics of children dying on the roads'.
