Two years after she lost her leg in the horrifying Alton Towers roller coaster crash, Vicky Balch has found love with a Paralympian.
The 22-year-old has reportedly fallen for Countryfile presenter and athlete Steve Brown who she met on the BBC documentary, Without Limits.
The gruelling challenge saw the pair trek some 900 miles across Vietnam alongside five others with physical disabilities – and form a close bond along the way.
Vicky Balch (left) has reportedly fallen for Countryfile presenter and Paralympian Steve Brown (right) after they met on the BBC documentary, Without Limits
Steve (left) and Vicky (second from right) took part in the gruelling trek across Vietnam for the show
Ms Balch, from Preston, was so badly injured when The Smiler ride collided with a stationary carriage in 2015 (pictured) that she needed her right leg amputated below the knee
Ms Balch, pictured left outside court in 2016 and right walking in London Fashion Week this month
Friends of Ms Balch told The Mirror the pair were ‘happy and positive about the future’.
Ms Balch, from Preston, was so badly injured when The Smiler ride collided with a stationary carriage in 2015 that she needed her right leg amputated below the knee.
But determined to overcome her disability, Ms Balch has gone on to forge a career as a successful model – even walking for a top label during London Fashion Week earlier this month.
Her latest endeavour saw her drive along the Ho Chi Minh trail with Mary Russell, who was born with the most common type of dwarfism, and Olympic wheelchair rugby captain Steve Brown, who was paralysed from the chest down 12 years ago.
Friends of Ms Balch said she and Steve Brown were ‘happy and positive about the future’
Steve Brown, centre, became the GB Wheelchair Rugby Captain at the 2012 games
Steve Brown was left paralysed at the age of 24 when he broke his spine after tripping and falling over the balcony at a friend’s house in Germany in 2005
On their first day of the Vietnam trip, the car began to struggle in the heat, and as they climbed a steep mountain it quickly lost power and veered dangerously towards the safety barriers that lined the verge.
Quick-thinking Ms Balch managed to bring the car to a stop.
But the instant she knew she was safe she broke down in tears as memories of the Smiler crash – in which four other people were seriously injured – rushed over her.
‘It just brought a lot back,’ she told cameras.
The pair are thought to have formed a close bond during their time spent trekking through Vietnam
Ms Balch was so badly injured when The Smiler ride collided with a stationary carriage in 2015 that she needed her right leg amputated below the knee
Ms Balch has said she took part in the journey in a bid to prove she can live a normal life, and be ‘more than the girl from Alton Towers’.
Steve Brown was left paralysed at the age of 24 when he broke his spine after tripping and falling over the balcony at a friend’s house in Germany in 2005.
But the keen sportsman turned his life around and went on the captain the Wheelchair Rugby Team at the 2012 Olympics.
The 36-year-old from Kent is now a wildlife presenter, and hosts Countryfile on BBC One.