AS Steve and Fran Newton walked down the hospital corridor, they were filled with dread at what they would see when they entered their daughter's room.

They had booked themselves on to a flight from England to Texas only hours after learning Cara had smashed into a tree on a quad bike.

But when they finally found themselves just a few steps away from her bedside, they hesitated.

Fran said: "The worst bit for me was when we arrived at the hospital and walked down the corridor, not knowing what we were going to be faced with when we saw Cara."

Dad Steve added: "We got to the hospital door and didn't want to go in."

Then they saw Cara's swollen face, bruised eye and chin marked with a scar from her broken jaw.

They walked up to her and realised she was oblivious to their presence.

Fran, 53, said: "There was no response from her; she didn't open her eyes; she didn't even squeeze our hands.

"The doctors showed me an X-ray and told me she had permanent damage to the left part of her brain but it would recover by 90% to 95%. It's a slow process and can take up to two years.

"Looking at her now, we were so lucky. It could have been so much worse."

Cara, who plays on the wing, had been in the US for 18 months on a football scholarship at a college in Texas when the accident happened.

Women's football is big business in the States, where there is a thriving professional league.

It was two weeks before she was due to come home for the Christmas holiday and her team were celebrating winning the national junior college football championship.

Cara was at a junior college, with plenty of offers from universities for her to continue her studies once she had finished there.

She said: "A friend's family owned a cabin on acres of land in the middle of nowhere and a big group of us went there.

"We were having a good time. They had four quad bikes and they gave us the keys so we could go out on them."

Cara and friend Bea went out on the bikes for an hour-and-a-half before returning to the cabin.

They found their friends there drinking alcohol but instead of joining them decided to go out for a second time.

Cara said: "I remember we were on our way back to put them away for the night and that's when, well, I don't know what happened."

Bea later explained Cara had been behind her as they made their way back.

It was only when she arrived at the cabin Bea realised there were no lights or noises behind her.

Fran said: "Bea drove back and found Cara's bike against a tree with her slumped over the handlebars.

"Her jaw hit the handlebars first and was broken in two places, then the side of her face hit."

Bea sped back, told the group what had happened and they phoned for an ambulance.

They rushed over to the scene of the accident in a four-wheel-drive car and put Cara inside before taking her up to the main road so the crew could find them more easily.

It was once Cara was in hospital that one of her friends phoned her family and managed to get hold of her older sister, Clare.

Fran, 53, said: "It was 9am in the morning, which would have been 3am in Texas, and I was in the kitchen having breakfast.

"Clare phoned and she was hysterical.

"She said, 'Cara's had an accident' and it seemed like ages before she said she had hit a tree on a quad bike and had bleeding on the brain."

The family initially kept in touch by calling Cara's friends and the medics at the hospital.

Fran said: "They told us the first 24 hours were the most critical.

"They didn't know how bad the bleed was.

"Being over here it's hard to know how bad it was. But they advised us to fly out there.

"I think if it had been really serious they would have operated. But the bleeding slowed down and they didn't need to."

Medics discovered Cara was very anaemic, to the extent they were surprised she had been able to play football to a high standard, and said it was possible she had blacked out and crashed.

Fran said: "She'd never blacked out before and there are a lot of 'ifs' and 'buts'.

"It might be that she hit a clump of earth."

Within days of the accident Cara had started to speak and after six days she was moved from the intensive care unit.

Fran said: "She spent most of her time asleep. She spoke with a slurred voice, as if she'd had a stroke, and her jaw was wired shut because it had been broken."

Steve had to fly back after a week because he and Fran manage the Blue Bell Inn, in Church Street, Sandiacre, and he needed to get ready for the Christmas rush.

But Cara's sisters, Clare, 26, and Nikketa, 24, travelled to Texas to be with Fran.

The damage to Cara's brain was on the left side, which co-ordinates the opposite side of the body.

This meant her right hand side felt weak and lacked co-ordination, so she had to learn to write again and for a short while walked with a frame.

But Steve, 53, said: "As soon as she was walking she was kicking a football about. She would always have a ball at her feet."

Cara stayed in hospital for about two weeks, although Steve said he believed it would have been longer if she had been under the care of the NHS.

He said: "They get them out of hospital as soon as they can in America."

She flew home shortly after being discharged, arriving back in England on December 23.

Cara's memory of Christmas is hazy but she recalls eating her dinner.

She said: "I had mashed potato, turkey and carrots and they were all mashed up because I couldn't eat solid foods."

Steve added: "It was lovely to have her back but it wasn't the same kind of Christmas that we were used to."

Since arriving home, Cara has been under the care of a specialist head trauma team, from Nottingham.

She gets help with her memory and concentration, as well as support doing everyday tasks such as travelling and socialising to help build up her confidence, which has been badly knocked.

Cara said: "Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I can't remember a thing from the day before."

Now she is hoping to start a part-time course at Derby College's Roundhouse campus later this month to become a personal trainer.

She is also enjoying playing with Derby County Ladies again.

She said: "It was strange going back to training. I've been told I shouldn't really go back but it is something I really enjoy. I loved it so I just did it.

"I was really rusty. I still am.

"But I feel like I'm improving. I have good and bad days. Sometimes I wake up and I'm really depressed and other days I'm happy and I feel I'm getting a lot better."