THE parents of a teenager, who suffered brain damage and broken bones in a crash, have described her dramatic improvement as a miracle.

Romaine Lee ended up in the intensive care unit, at Chelmsford’s Broomfield Hospital, after the accident in Braintree, on June 22.

Her best friend Charmaine Phillips, 17, who was driving the car, died and friend Danielle Stevens, 19, was also seriously injured.

Romaine, last year’s Braintree and Bocking Carnival queen, was put into a drug-induced coma.

Now ten weeks after the smash, the Braintree College student is able to speak, move her face and walk with assistance.

The 17-year-old, of Mountbatten Road, Braintree, was allowed home for a few days over the bank holiday weekend – only the second time she has been home since the crash.

Stuart Cameron, 44, Romaine’s stepfather, said: “It’s been overwhelming. From not thinking she would move, she moved. From not thinking she was going to have any facial expressions or anything, to this.

“We thought she would never get better. It’s a miracle.”

Mr Cameron, who works at Royal Mail, said Romaine started to smile and try to get herself up about five weeks ago, and about three weeks ago, she said her first words, which were: “Mum, I love you.”

Her mother Karen Lee-Cameron, 45, who works at Farleigh Hospice, said all the nurses were amazed as well.

Mr Cameron said Romaine, who is at a rehabilitation unit at Broomfield, still had a “long way to go”, but she was improving.

He continued: “There’s movement, but there’s got to be a lot of physiotherapy and walking with her, getting the brain to co-ordinate the movements. She’s doing really well for the time.”

The damage to her brain would never go away, he added.

Romaine, who is a former Alec Hunter Humanities College student, will move to a hospital in London where she will learn to become independent again.

Mr Cameron said her time at home had been “lovely,” which has seen the teenager go shopping with her mum and visit colleagues at Tesco, in Braintree’s Market Place.

The family wanted to thank the staff of ward B15 and everybody for their support, and Mr Cameron said mother-of-four Mrs Lee-Cameron, had been superb.

Romaine wanted to extend her own thanks, adding how all the cards and flowers had made her feel special.

She hopes to spend a few days at home over Christmas.