Victoria Balch says her leg amputation was “a relief” after six rounds of surgery in a bid to save her leg after the Alton Towers rollercoaster crash.
She told the Victoria Derbyshire programme about her determination to walk again after she graduates from university.
Balch was one of five people seriously injured when a carriage carrying 16 riders crashed into an empty cart on the Smiler ride in June.
She told Derbyshire: "I'm graduating in November, so I want to be able to walk with a crutch. I just want a leg so at graduation I can say 'look how far I've come'."
She also said her leg had become a burden following an infection: "After the third operation it was looking good - I thought I might be able to walk again. But the bad news came before my seventh operation, by which time I was exhausted. I had spent so much time asleep.”
She added: "The leg was so painful that I couldn't do anything with it."
She has recently progressed from a wheelchair onto crutches and has been provided with her own prosthetic leg.
The Smiler roller-coaster at Alton Towers, which crashed in June, causing two people to lose limbs
Reports stated the crash may have been caused by human error after an engineer allegedly overrode an automatic safety lock on the ride, allowing the ride’s operator to send a carriage full of passengers around the ride despite the empty cart sitting stationary on the tracks after a test run.
Alton Towers’ parent group Merlin Entertainment said the injured parties will receive compensation.
Balch said she received weekly visits from Alton Towers staff after the crash, and said they were “doing everything they can for the families”.
“It’s not their fault personally – they’re normal people that have families.”
Additional reporting by PA.
