A woman who landed her dream job as a physiotherapist at a ski resort has told how she is lucky to be alive after plunging 160ft off a cliff.

Sam Baynes was left fighting for her life in a coma with multiple fractures to her skull, brain damage, a broken back and severe damage to her arm when she sled off the mountain in Austria on New Year's Eve.

But now despite defying the odds to survive and returning home to Bournemouth, the 30-year-old has been forced to resort to crowdfunding to fund medical care due to NHS waiting lists to see a specialist consultant.

Sam, whose speech has been affected by the accident and cannot move her right arm, said: "The doctors in Austria said they were surprised I was still alive.

"There hadn't been any snow. There were rocks everywhere. They were surprised I came out of it.

"I'm desperate to get on with my life but I'm still waiting for help here in Bournemouth."

Sam, a former physiotherapist assistant at Poole Hospital and Alderney Hospital, who had moved to London for a year said she was thrilled when she landed her dream job as a physiotherapist in St Anton - one of the most popular ski resorts in Austria.

But on New Year's Eve, just one month after moving to the resort, her perfect evening of celebrations turned into a living nightmare.

She explained: "New Year’s Eve is supposed to be a time of looking forward to the New Year. Having just turned 30 and leaving my 20s behind, I thought this was going to be the best year of my life.

"I remember taking pictures of the fireworks, adjusting the camera settings because I had a new camera and I was having the time of my life. Earlier in the day, I was with my friend at the top of the mountain and I remember saying: 'we have to sled down that later, it looks really steep.'

"My last memory is getting on the sled."

Sam's next memory is two and a half weeks later, in a wheelchair in Innsbruck Hospital.

Recollecting the ordeal, she said: "Apparently my three friends all got to the bottom of the mountain and said: 'where's Sam?' One of their boyfriends climbed up to find me. I was unconscious. He kept me alive while the ambulance was on its way."

Sam, a former Avonbourne School and Winton Primary School pupil, was transferred to hospital by the mountain rescue team at 3.30am where she was put in an induced coma.

Her sister Kerrie Baker flew from the UK and her dad Marc flew from Australia to be at her bedside where they were dealt the news Sam had just a seven per cent chance of survival.

Kerrie, 28, explained: "It was a waiting game. It was the most worrying time of my life. I thought I was going to lose the only member of my family that is left for me.

"They wanted to prepare us for the worse.

"Even if she did wake up, medics weren't too sure what state she would be in. They were worried she wouldn't recognise anyone."

However, the family were given hope when Sam reacted to Kerrie playing her a song that reminds them of their mum Lee, who lost her battle with cancer when Sam was just 25.

Kerrie, a nurse, said: "She reacted a lot to the song and that's when I knew then she would be okay. Then it was learning everything from scratch, learning to swallow on her own, learning to talk, to talk, moving her arms. It was so surreal."

Sam miraculously awoke with no memory problems and doctors said the fact she was so fit and healthy helped her recovery.

Sam spent five weeks in Innsbruck Hospital and a further four weeks undergoing rehabilitation at a specialist neurological unit where she learned to talk and walk again.

Sam, explained: "We looked after mum for a long time. When my mum passed away I realised it was my time and I still have to keep focused on that.

"Someone was looking out for me because I should be in a wheelchair."

Last month, Sam returned to Poole where she is staying with her sister Kerry.

But she said despite speaking to her GP and worried about the extent of her injuries, she is still waiting for a referral to see a consultant neurologist.

Desperate to get herself fit enough to work again as soon as possible, Sam has begun using money she inherited from her late mum to fund private appointments and has launched a crowdfunding page where her friends have already donated more than £800 towards her rehabilitation costs.

Sam, who is going to the gym every week, said: "I've been a bit left. Left by the medical community that is so overrun.

"I still don't really know what's wrong with me and what's happened because everything is in German and my main concern is I don't know which areas of my brain are damaged even. I don't know if I need surgery and I don't know how long it will take to recover but I need to because I want to get on with life.

"I don't feel bad at all unless I try something I should be able to do like try to walk somewhere and feel wobbly or when I am speaking and I know I have to concentrate on how I pronounce words. It highlights what kind of disability I have now."

Fighting back tears, she said: "This is all very new to me to not be as independent as I was before. I'm not good at asking for help.

"The thing that frightens me most is not being a physio anymore. I would be totally devastated."

Despite her fears, Sam said she is determined to stay positive and says she will adapt her life to her injuries.

"I've been through so much in my late teens and 20s - more than some people in their 70s and 80s so I am not the panicky type now. When I first woke up I did think it probably would have been better to stay in the coma and die. Then you won't have to put up with anything, no injuries, not working, trying to get better. It's all so much effort.

"My survival has made me even more determined. Just because bad things have happened, I refuse to be negative."