WHEN 12-year-old Chris Stewart's parents watched him crash into a tree, they thought he was dead.

His head was ripped from his spine as he had been internally decapitated, reported The Sun.

His tongue was also torn from its root, by the sheer force of the impact.

His anguished parents, Debra, 41, and John, 42, watched firemen cut their son's body from the wreckage of his 1000cc racing Mini.

He had been driving the car at a speed of 80kmh when he crashed into a metal barrier, on the grass track race near Alton in Hampshire, about 70km from London.

According to reports, almost every accident of this nature is fatal.

However, two months later, this young racer driver was dancing at his racing club's Christmas party. He had been racing for two years.

His miraculous recovery was due to a ground-breaking surgery called occipital-cervical fusion.

Surgeons at the Southhampton General Hospital laboured for six hours to attach the severed parts of his body.

Consultant Evan Davies conducted the delicate operation to re-attach Chris's head to his top vertebra with metal plates and bone grafts.

Chris's recovery took 19 days, before he was judged fit to go home.

Although he still requires intensive therapy, especially speech lessons, his recovery has been a modern miracle for the family.

According to his mother, the memory of the crash is still a horrifying one.

This mother-of-three said: 'Every time I shut my eyes, all I can see is that moment of impact. But it has been amazing to see Chris recover. We are delighted.'

And as for Chris?

The daring racer says he is again raring to go and says: 'I was not scared when the accident happened, more annoyed really.'