A personal trainer is fighting to walk again after being left paraplegic in a car crash shortly after her boyfriend asked her to marry him.
The horrific accident, in which the couple's car was looted and her engagement ring stolen, happened near Uberlandia, a city in the state of Minas Gerais in south-eastern Brazil, on 24th October 2024.
Tatiane Santana, 29, had been returning home from a trip to Rio de Janeiro where she had just been proposed to by her boyfriend.
The pair had spent nine days visiting coastal towns before the crash.
On the final day of their holiday, he asked her to marry him, but because the ring was too loose, she placed it in a box in her bag on the back seat of their car.
Around 20 minutes from home, another driver made an illegal overtaking manoeuvre and struck their vehicle on the side.
Tatiane Santana poses in undated photo. She suffered an accident near Uberlandia, Brazil. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (@tatiane_personal/newsX)
Their car spun across the road, hit another vehicle, rolled more than six times and fell down an eight-metre (26-foot) embankment.
Before help arrived, the couple's car was looted, and her engagement ring and other valuables were stolen.
Tatiane spent 39 days in hospital, six of them in intensive care and three in a coma.
She underwent emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding and later operations to repair her spine and leg.
Tatiane Santana poses with her fiance in undated photo. She suffered an accident near Uberlandia, Brazil. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (@tatiane_personal/newsX)
She said: "The day that was supposed to be the happiest of my life became the worst.
"I felt very betrayed by life because I never imagined something like this could happen to me."
Tatiane said the reality of her injuries only sank in after she returned home.
She continued: "It only really sank in when I got home and wasn't under medication anymore. I realised I still didn't have control of my bladder or intestines. I cried every morning."
Tatiane said she had to remain completely still for more than 20 days before surgery on her spine.
Tatiane Santana poses with her fiance in undated photo. She suffered an accident near Uberlandia, Brazil. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (@tatiane_personal/newsX)
She said: "If I moved even a little, I could make my spinal injury worse.
"I had to lie completely still, take only sponge baths and use diapers because I had no control of my body."
The damage to her spinal cord left her unable to move or feel her legs but after intense rehabilitiation she now has the ability of moving her legs, albeit with the support of a walker and crutches, during physiotherapy sessions.
She said: "With 10 months of spinal cord injury, I'm already walking with a walker.
"I believe it's just the beginning of many things I'll still conquer."
She continues rehabilitation with pelvic, neurofunctional and hydrotherapy treatments and says she is determined to keep improving.
(Mike Leidig / newsX)