Ballycastle crash: Clodagh Arbuckle, 18, tells of her fight for life and determination to become a special needs teacher

A teenager left clinging to life after a car crash in which two young men died has said she is determined to get better so she can teach disabled children.

Johnny Black, 19, and 26-year-old Robin Wilson died after the early-morning head-on Easter Monday horror crash in County Antrim.

Clodagh Arbuckle, 18, who was a passenger in one of the cars involved, was left with life-threatening injuries and given just a 30% chance of survival.

She is finally home after four months in hospital, where she commented: “I’m just so happy to be here. They all thought I was going to die.”

Clodagh is slowly recovering from broken bones and a serious brain injury having initially not recognised her loved ones when she came round after two weeks in a coma.

She has no memory of the crash which devastated the north coast town of Ballycastle.

“It’s great to be home,” she said.

“They didn’t think I would make it that day.

“They thought I would be dead and I had only a 30% chance of surviving.

“The day it happened Johnny was giving me a lift, there were four of us in the car.

“I don’t remember what happened during the crash or anything.

“It was about two weeks later in intensive care when I remember waking up from a coma.

“I had a badly injured brain, I broke my left arm, collar bone and ribs.

“My liver and kidneys were bad too.

“I still have a brain injury, but touch wood, that will get better.”

Clodagh said she will be forever indebted to the firefighters and medical staff who saved her life.

And she intends to go back to Cross and Passion College in Ballycastle in September and then train to be a teacher.

“The Royal and Musgrave hospitals made me the girl I am today. I couldn’t speak or do anything and they helped me so much,” she said.

“There were 23 firemen in Ballycastle who saved me too.

“Everybody was praying for me as well and I am really grateful for that.

“I had wanted to be a nurse but now I want to be a special needs teacher.

“That’s what I really want to do.”