A TEENAGE boy who nearly died after being hit by a car has made a miraculous recovery and is now looking forward to playing football again.

The only sign that 13-year-old Chris Pittway was ever involved in the accident is a small scar on his head and a few scratches on his leg and shoulder.

Chris, of Holm Oak, Colchester, was knocked unconscious in the accident, in Bourne Road, on July 16, and was rushed to hospital with severe head injuries.

Staff at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, performed a series of operations, including putting a metal bolt in his head while his skull healed, and eventually putting him into a forced coma to try to rest his brain as he fought for life.

Mother Mandy and father Anthony kept a constant vigil by his bedside as floods of messages from family and friends came in via social networking site Facebook.

Chris, a popular, “football crazy” pupil at Thomas, Lord Audley School, woke from his coma a week later, and is today recovering at home with just a cut on his head and a few scrapes and bruises.

Mrs Pittway, 44, said: “It really is amazing. He has recovered so quickly from his ordeal. The doctors couldn’t believe it, and we are all so relieved.

“When it first happened we had to take it hour by hour. We just didn’t know what would happen. The doctors said it wasn’t looking good, and we just hoped for the best.

“When he woke up, six days later, we had no idea what he would be like or how badly the accident had affected him, but straight away he started to pull all the tubes out himself.

“He didn’t know why he was there, with all these things all over his body, but the following day he went down to the children’s ward, and a week later he came home.”

Chris, who is hoping to return to school at the start of the new term in September, is on the way to a full recovery but has been told he can’t play football for six months.

He plays for Stanway Villa Youth Football Club, and said the sport ban was the worst part of his ordeal.

He said: “Not being able to play football is gutting, and that it happened right at the start of the holidays, but I have had lots of visits from friends and it is good knowing that they are there for me.”

l No charges have been brought as a result of the accident.