British woman 'stranded' in French hospital after horrific car crash left her severely brain damaged
Sarah McNee, 40, was driving in Gouttières when her black BMW 1 Series Convertible came off the road and ploughed through a brick wall.
It took emergency services an hour to cut her from the wreckage before she was flown to hospital with severe brain damage.
Her distraught family have set up a JustGiving page to help them maintain a constant vigil at Sarah's hospital bedside. She can only communicate by blinking.
Sister Claire McNee said: "It's totally devastated us. I cry every day just thinking about her lying there and the worry of it all.
"It's absolutely turned our world upside down."
Claire, 41, added: "They [the doctors] can't give you hope when it comes to brain injury.
"My mum asked if she would ever be able to speak again and they said they couldn't say."
Sarah, from Hoddesdon, Herts., had been staying with her mother in Gouttières in central France when the crash happened on the evening of October 16.
Claire, also from Hoddesdon, said: "She lost control of the car which went through a concrete post, a tree and through a brick wall.
"It flipped, drove up the wall and went on its back. It took them an hour to get her out of the car.
"They resuscitated her in the ambulance, then a paramedic came and she got resuscitated again in a helicopter.
"By 10.30pm that night they were operating on her. She had bleeding on her brain. The stem of her brain has been damaged.
"She's also blind in one eye from the impact, and she can only communicate by blinking.
"They put her in an induced coma for about a month."
Sarah, a former medical representative for GlaxoSmithKline, remains in hospital in Clermont-Ferrand.
Claire said she had been prescribed strong antibiotics after catching sepsis and meningitis.
She added: "She still can't move or talk. She's having a big operation on Monday to put a permanent valve in, which will help with fluid on the brain.
"Then hopefully she will start rehabilitation."
Claire, along with brother Bradley, dad Barry and mum Gillian, are taking turns to be by her bedside in France, as Sarah can't be flown home as she's too unwell and needs constant treatment.
A JustGiving page has been set up by family friend Lucy Morris to help raise funds for her care.
Claire described her younger sister, who studied physics at King's College London, as an "outgoing" and "intelligent" woman.
She added: "She was very active. She went running every day and also went cycling. She was beautiful.
"It would be wonderful to see a smile on her face again one day.
"It will take a year for them to know what she will and won't be able to do. We just need to take it day by day."
Donations can be made to Sarah's JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lucy-morris-736
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