A YEAR ago Beatrice Carr’s parents were preparing for their darkest Christmas ever without their only child.

They had already had to come to terms with the fact their daughter, who had once been an outgoing, gregarious and popular girl at school, was permanently brain damaged after a near fatal asthma attack.

But then complications following surgery to correct her curvature of the spine, deteriorating health and finally a cardiac arrest lead to the point last December where Bea was on a life support machine.

Her fate seemed sealed as doctors warned mum Joanne and dad Paul their fragile girl would not be able to cling to life much longer and the painful decision to remove her breathing tube was taken.

No one could have predicted what would happen next.

Bea carried on fighting against all the odds. Her iron will to survive stunned everyone, including the doctors. And today, she’s getting strong and stronger and is at home with her family in Marston, Oxford.

This time last year the Carrs had never dared dream that Christmas 2010 would be spent with their daughter.

Bea, who is now 14, can sit unaided, turn her head and doctors this week revealed her sight might be improving.

Despite limited vision, the loss of speech and being unable to move her limbs, Bea – who used to attend Beckley Primary School – can hear well and communicates by blinking.

Remarkably she is expected to return to John Watson Special School in Wheatley in January to re-start her education.

Last night, Mrs Swindells Carr, who with her husband is still battling to secure round-the-clock care for their daughter, said: “We want everyone to know what an astonishing young lady we have here.

“We never, ever give up hope.

“Do not always believe the doctors because the one thing they cannot know is much about the strength of a patient’s spirit.

“A snowdrop reminds me so much of Beatrice: tiny, delicate. One wonders how it will survive, but its pale fragility cloaks a hidden resilience and an iron will.”

Mr Carr said: “Doctors continue to be dumbfounded. She continues to inspire us.”

Mrs Swindells Carr – who praised the support of all charities involved in her daughter’s care, including children’s respite charity Rosy, and the Rainbow Trust – said this year her daughter had made milestone trips to the ice rink, shopping on the bus, and even had a video made for her by Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, thanks to charity Dreams Come True.

But all Beatrice wants is her childhood back, and her mother said she would love some more friends to visit.

Mrs Swindells Carr said: “Bea wants her sight back, she wants the use of her body and she wants the normal childhood that has been mercilessly taken away from her.

“This is not the life we wanted and it is not the life we expected, but it is the life we have got and the best way to try and enjoy it is to be happy and to make our own joy.

“She would love some peer group company, some friends.

“Once gregarious, popular and the life of the class, her travesties have changed her into a very sad, lonely and isolated young lady, shunned by all but a very few loyal, but busy, friends.

“Yet she can remember her former life, and I know it hurts.”