A PARALYSED ex-army medic from Ascot has become the first female driver for a local race car team.

Nerys Pearce, 38, from Ascot, was recently made a race driver for disabled race car team Team BRIT, which is looking to be the first all-disabled team to take part in the Le Mans 24 hour race.

Ms Pearce, who took part in her first race with the team at Silverstone race course on October 11, suffered severe damage to both her legs in a motorcycle accident in 2008.

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Her body reacted badly to the spinal block treatment for this, and a few months after the crash she was paralysed from the chest down.

She said: "It took me around six months for me to fully understand and come to terms with the fact that I’d never sit up, walk, or go to the toilet without tubes again.

"I always had hope that my injuries would be fixed – being an adrenaline junkie I was used to being injured and getting back to it again – this was just incomprehensible.

“I felt disgusting, completely useless and as if I was a waste of space.

"I honestly believed I was such a burden on my family that they would be better off without me.

"In 2015, a support officer from BLESMA came to my home and said he was going to help me.

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"He asked if I would consider going skiing with BLESMA – something I had always loved, but I could barely even communicate with him, let alone believe that it could happen.

"BLESMA took me to Colorado and the trip changed my life. By the end of the trip I had skied solo on a sit ski down a mountain – days before, I struggled to even be out of bed without passing out.

"I’m always looking for a challenge and when Dave got in touch, I was instantly intrigued!

"I had to stop skiing as I was getting injured whenever I fell, but what I loved about the sport was that conditions change so fast, so you constantly have to work out your next move, pushing you mentally and physically. "This is the same in motor racing.

"I never dreamed motorsport would be possible for me, but when I went to Team BRIT HQ and tried out the simulator and hand controls, I really believed it could happen.

"I always over think, and over process, which has been a problem in the past, but for Team BRIT, it showed them how analytical I could be about a racetrack.

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“What excites me most about what is ahead, is that we’re doing this on a completely level playing field.

"No one will know I’m using hand controls, they’ll just see me as competition and that’s incredibly freeing.

"I want to be as fast as I can, and I want to push the boundaries of what people expect from women and from disabled people.

"I’m not just a disabled woman ‘having a go’, I’m a competitive racer."