I finally feel sexy

Losing weight helped Kate Cradduck, 44, put the spark back into her marriage

- SASKIA MURPHY, MATT BARBOUR

As first dates go, ours was perfect, right up until the moment Richard, then 31, leant in and kissed me for the first time. It was a beautiful autumn night in October 2007, and we’d just left the pub and started making our way to the taxi rank when he made his move. ‘Thank you for a lovely evening,’ Richard said, and I closed my eyes, taking in the moment.

As we embraced, a car suddenly mounted the pavement, roaring towards us and hitting us both head on. It all happened so fast as Richard was flung one way and I flew the other. I don’t really remember the impact as I crashed back down onto the pavement.

Fog of pain

I must have been unconscious for several minutes, but when I woke up I could hear sirens. In a fog of pain and shock, I was blue-lighted to Eastbourne District General Hospital, where X-rays showed I’d sustained damage to tendons in my legs and feet, and my spine was badly bruised.

On a high dose of painkillers, I was wheeled onto a ward, where I saw Richard lying in a hospital bed.

‘We thought we’d put you two lovebirds together,’ a nurse smiled. With dried blood staining my face and bruises all over my body, I looked terrible.

‘This is definitely a first date to remember,’ I joked, laughing away the pain.

I soon got over my initial embarrassment as Richard was badly injured, too, having broken bones in both legs. And doctors had said he’d have to have a toe amputated. We were both facing months in recovery.