'I'm piecing my life and memory back together after a devastating and shocking accident'

A mother of two has recalled the moment she awoke from a coma in the hospital with no memory of how she got there, or of the accident that had nearly ended her life.

The picture of our lives is painted by our memories. But what would happen if you were to lose those stories and your canvas is blank?

For weeks, the has followed the life-changing moments that have shaped the outlook of extraordinary people. However, one of those perspectives is a little bit incomplete, as that person cannot quite recall the moments that led to her Earth-shattering experience.

It all started on a seemingly normal day for mother-of-two Claire Clark, 43. She was joined by her husband and two young daughters, walking back from a school assembly. She said: "On the day of the accident, we - as a family - went to my daughter’s school to see her in a special assembly about being a pirate.

"She went to school in full pirate gear, and I had made her a lunchbox because they had special lunches at the school that were pirate-themed. She was fussy, too. So I made a pirate packed lunch and her sandwich was in the shape of a pirate ship."

These details, however, aren't from Claire's own memory and have been recounted to her by her family. This is because just around the corner from their home, Claire was struck by an out-of-control motorcycle that had mounted the pavement. Thrown onto the floor and landing on her head, Claire suffered a catastrophic brain injury.

"I didn't remember that happening,” she explained. “Me doing her costume or making the sandwich. I was looking through my camera, and suddenly there was a sandwich in the shape of a boat.

“And it's so, so strange. I don't know if it was a combination of literally the hits on the head, or the medication they put you under for a medically induced coma, or whatever it was. But my memory is so terrible that for two weeks before the accident, there's nothing.”

The mother was told later that a motorcyclist had lost control on the road, and the bike mounted the curb, speeding onto the pavement directly towards her and her young family and sweeping her feet from under her. Her 18-month-old daughter, thankfully, was in her husband’s arms - because the buggy, in which she was usually carried in, smashed into a wall. Her five-year-old daughter was also unharmed.

She said: "As it was, it was just me that was actually hit and falling backwards and fracturing my skull. Basically the brain is like a strawberry in a jam jar, and when you throw it forwards, the strawberry will hit the skull. That’s what happened to me. It was a ‘Glasgow coma’: I was out, and out straight away.

“But quite by coincidence, there was an ambulance across the road seeing somebody else that had a heart problem. They immediately came over to me and realised this is big, and they got me to a neuro department in Southampton real quick."

Speaking to the Mirror's , Claire explains how she underwent emergency surgery to relieve the pressure on her swelling brain, which involved removing a section of skull and storing it in her abdomen for "safekeeping, to keep the nerves alive".

She tells the Mirror’s Cecilia Adamou about her long and challenging recovery - which was both physical and mental - after her time in a medically-induced coma.

“It was a case of: if they don't operate - because my brain was swelling so dangerously - I could die. If they do operate, I could still die because they don't know until they get in there.

"And if they do operate, they don't know what the consequences would be. Could I be paralysed? Could I be brain-dead? It was a real case of my husband and my family just going 'do what you can'."

After nine days in a coma, Claire woke up in intensive care, but her recovery was far from over. She chronicles her amazing journey - and her inspirational outlook on her life after nearly losing it - in .

Whilst saying that her story feels like it belongs to someone else due to the memory loss during that time, Claire is proud of how she has pieced together her life after the accident.

Speaking of how her attitude has changed since the accident, she explained: "I really get FOMO [fear of missing out], and so I'm like, I say yes to everything and anything because I want to see people. I want to experience stuff."

She added: "If you set your mind to something, it can happen. It just takes a really long time to happen. Stay positive because negativity drains you and the people around you.

"If something's bothering you, you should actually talk. Talk therapy is another thing, I swear by that. But yeah, stay positive and it will fall into place."

Claire added: "I’ve been given a second chance."

You can listen to the full interview with Claire Clark wherever you get your podcasts, including and .

is a Reach Studio production for the Daily Mirror, hosted by Cecilia Adamou and produced by Daniel J. McLaughlin.