When 13-year-old Freya Harry and her mum Rachel cuddle up on the sofa, what's immediately striking is how much they giggle and have fun together.

The bond between the mother and daughter from Wrexham is strong, but follows them having had one of the most difficult starts imaginable.

Rachel suffered a heart attack and hypoxic brain injury, which meant her brain was starved of oxygen, during childbirth in July 2012. Rachel was left in a coma, and then unable to walk, talk or sit up.

It meant that Rachel, then 30, was in hospital for the first 11 months of Freya's life.

Family were told by some medical staff that she would never get any better but Rachel's mother, Karan, said she always thought there was "something there" and believes that Freya was the key and the "driving force" for her improving.

Rachel spent the first three months after her daughter's birth at Wrexham Maelor Hospital before she was transferred to a rehabilitation unit

When Rachel was transferred from Wrexham Maelor Hospital to a rehabilitation unit at Clatterbridge hospital on the Wirral, there was some progression.

The family took Freya to see Rachel every day, and spending time with her daughter, learning to understand that she was hers, helped motivate her.

But after many months, Rachel stopped participating in her treatment. It was decided she needed to be at home full-time with her family, and particularly her baby.

"When she came home, she'd copy things Freya was doing," explained Karan, who is also Rachel's main carer.

"When Freya started to walk then Rachel would weight bear more... she'd see Freya doing it and she'd want to do it, we felt."

Karan said the "role reversal" where Rachel learned from her toddler's development made the relationship between mother and daughter "very special".

Freya was taken to spend time with Rachel every day when she was at Clatterbridge hospital

Freya has never been involved in Rachel's rehabilitation in a formal sense, but doing ordinary things at home, such as teaching her how to hold a pen, draw and play games to help her improve her fine motor skills has all helped.

Her favourite thing to do with her mum is go shopping, mainly for clothes and cosmetics, something she says she would like them to do "a lot more", so she encourages her mum to practice her walking by pushing the trolley.

But they also love just being together at home, watching funny films - Bridget Jones is a favourite.

"We laugh a lot," said Freya. "When I come home from school... I'm always laughing with her."

Playing games with her mum is one of the ways Freya has been helping her to improve her fine motor skills.

Freya said her mum's mobility improvements mean the family has been able to go on holiday abroad, creating treasured memories.

"We went in the pool a lot; we were always playing around... I carried her in the pool sometimes and she carried me a lot," said Freya.

Karan said seeing the two of them doing ordinary mum and daughter activities has been "really touching".

"All the other families around, they don't realize how special it was for Rachel and Freya being in that pool together, it really was special."

Rachel and Freya spent lots of time 'playing around' in the pool on holiday in Portugal.

Rachel has worked regularly with a private physiotherapist who specializes in brain injury. Not available through the NHS, it is paid for by ongoing fundraising by family and friends.

Her progress over the years, says Karan, has been gradual but striking. She has gone from being unable to sit up or speak to walking, communicating and enjoying life.

She also credits Rachel's sister, Emma, and her family, for contributing to her recovery.

"An occupational therapist told us Rachel won't thrive in this environment. [At the time] we had two toddlers, a five-year-old, they were here a lot.

"They said it was too noisy, too busy. They advised us to put her in a nursing home. That wasn't going to happen.

"She wouldn't be where she is if we'd have gone down that route."

Rachel still works regularly with her specialist physiotherapist.

Dr. Colin Pinder, a consultant in neurological rehabilitation at Clatterbridge, agrees Rachel's move home to be with her family was crucial to her progression.

"There always comes a point when somebody who is significantly impaired is better off being in their own environment, in Rachel's case with her own child."

He added that what had happened to her had been a "tragedy" but that she had "come a long way since", even "very proudly" walking into his clinic for the first time for a recent appointment.

Like Karan, he said Freya had been an "integral" part of her mum's recovery.

Karan, Freya and Rachel love looking at their holiday pictures and hope they will be able to go again maybe next year

Freya says the way her mum continues to work on her recovery makes her feel "very proud of her".

Both she and Karan say they hope she will keep progressing but most importantly, they say they just want her to stay healthy.

"Whether she'll get to where we are, we don't know," said Karan. "She's exceeded expectations. She's carried on, amazed us all."

As for her granddaughter, she said Freya is "a mini-Rachel... amazing... just like her mum". (BBC)

? Freya, who's now 13, was taken to visit her mum in hospital every day for 11 months before she came back to the family home

Update news