Nearly eight weeks after she suffered serious facial injuries in a motorbike accident, BBC Radio Nottingham presenter Frances Finn is getting ready to go back on air. She talks to LYNETTE PINCHESS about her recovery – and how "blessed" she feels.

BBC RADIO Nottingham presenter Frances Finn will return to the airwaves next Thursday with a huge thank-you for her loyal listeners.

Hundreds sent get-well cards and flooded the BBC website with messages of support after Frances' horrific motorbike crash in Daybrook in August.

The 37-year-old morning show host said: "I want to thank them – they made such a difference to my recuperation, turning an experience which could have been extremely traumatic and depressing into something positive and uplifting.

"For a person who spends her working life in a studio sat on her own, it was a real eye-opener of how much a connection there is."

Frances suffered serious facial injuries when her motorbike was in collision with a grey Mercedes convertible on the A60 Mansfield Road, at the junction of Sherbrook Road, on August 11. She was left with part of her nose hanging off and a fractured eye socket.

Despite these grisly injuries, she appreciates how much worse it could have been; it really hit home when she later learned a journalist colleague was told by emergency services at the time of the accident that it could turn out to be fatal.

Earlier that day Frances had presented her 9am-noon show as usual and was heading over to Thoresby for the afternoon.

She said she remembers being first in the queue at traffic lights and a car crossing in front of her.

Frances, who lives in Lowdham, describes the moment of impact as "like a still photograph".

Most of what happened next is a blur, apart from brief flashbacks of a woman asking her name, firefighters' helmets and someone saying they were going to have to cut her leathers off.

She said it has been like a jigsaw, piecing together the details from witnesses and emergency crews.

Some listeners sent her photographs they had taken at the crash scene.

Was that upsetting? Frances, a committed Christian, said she didn't mind.

"The more horrific the picture, the more blessed I feel that I escaped with my life and no brain injury."

Frances learned that her legs slid under the Mercedes, while her head became trapped between the sill of the car and the road.

No one is being prosecuted over the accident.

The car driver told police that his vision of Frances had been obscured by a white van making an illegal turn out of Sherbrook Road.

The van driver has never been traced. A fire crew had to lift the Mercedes to free Frances.

She said: "I have been back to the scene and met with firefighters, and they explained how my helmet came to be so broken. They said the car rolled over my head. The wheel came down on my visor which broke, and that is what cut my nose off.

"I have some grim photos.

"It broke the helmet on both sides and the chin part was hanging off but it saved my life – it's amazing."

First aid

Passer-by Katy Steventon and off-duty fire officer Tony Gallagher were first on the scene, administering first aid and keeping traffic at bay.

Frances regained consciousness in the accident and emergency department at the Queen's Medical Centre.

She recalled: "Before they saw to my nose, they sent me to X-ray and I remember the surprise in the voices of staff that my arms, legs and ribs weren't broken and my back was fine.

"The word 'miracle'... I can't remember the number of times it was used by staff that day."

Her nose was sewn back on by a specialist facial surgeon soon afterwards and 17 days later she had an operation to readjust the bones.

"It was like a big weight pressing on my face and with my nose it was like wearing a big pair of marble glasses," she said.

Frances spent a total of seven days in hospital and described her care as first-class.

"They were fantastic. I was blown away by how brilliant they were," she said.

She's also hugely appreciative of the firefighters and paramedics who attended the crash.

"It's great hearing about the good work the emergency services do but this experience brought it home to me what horrific things they see and do," she said.

After the operation Frances spent two weeks recovering on holiday in Cornwall, looking like "the Phantom of the Opera" with a plaster cast on her face.

Her husband Gerry, who also rides a motorbike, helped nurse her back to health despite his own mishap.

Frances explained: "About two weeks before my crash he broke his arm in a mountain bike accident in the French Alps – we were quite a comedy pair."

She returned to the BBC's offices on September 21, where she has been lining up guests and ploughing through 2,000 e-mails.

Nearly two months after the accident, apart from a scar on her nose, there's no other outward sign of injury.

She said: "What is irritating is nerve damage on the right side of my face.

"It prickles and fizzes which is why I haven't gone back on air yet."

During her first programme she'll be filling listeners in about the accident and interviewing those who helped her.

She has spoken to good Samaritan Katy Steventon since the accident but Thursday will be the first time the pair have properly met.

Last week Frances came face to face with one of the paramedics who treated her.

"I was able to thank him and give him a big kiss," she said.

On Thursday Katy and Tony Gallagher were commended for their actions at a Notts Fire and Rescue Service awards ceremony.

Katy, 27, was driving home to Sherwood for lunch when she came across the aftermath.

The volunteer instructor with Notts Army Cadet Force immediately put her first aid skills into action, asking Frances questions, trying to keep her conscious and making sure she wasn't moved.

"There was a lot of blood and it was pretty horrific.

"I am just glad she is okay," said Katy, who works for a digital marketing agency.

Frances said she'll resume broadcasting with a new sense of satisfaction.

"Before it was like performing into a bit of a vacuum – it's not like an actor who gets a round of applause. What will be really great is the warmth from the listeners that will help me relax and enjoy the role I have."

For now, Frances is travelling to and from work by car. The Kawasaki ZX-6R bike she was riding was a write-off; in any case her nose is still too painful for her to wear a helmet.

But the accident hasn't put her off getting back on a motorbike. She said: "I am definitely getting another one and I am definitely getting back on it once I have some new leathers and a new helmet."

East Midlands Today on Wednesday will be reporting Frances' return to the airwaves.

lynette.oinchess@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk