MIRACLE girl Michelle Wheatley plans to thank the people who brought her back from the dead - by handing over the cash from a sponsored walk.

The money raised by Michelle and her fellow sixth-form students at Sherburn High School will be presented to Pinderfields Hospital, Selby Fire Station and the ambulance service.

Michelle, 18, was at death's door after her car ploughed into a tree on the A162 at Brotherton, near Selby.

The car was left hanging precariously over a 40ft deep quarry and she had to be cut out of the red Fiat Brava by Selby firefighters.

She suffered a fractured skull, broken cheekbones and eye sockets, and bruised lungs.

At Leeds General Hospital, doctors told her parents Malcolm and Elizabeth there were no signs of life in her eyes and to expect the worst.

She was later transferred to Pinderfields' neurological rehabilitation unit, in Wakefield, where she spent eight weeks, and where staff nicknamed her Miracle Girl.

Now Michelle plans to thank her rescuers by taking part for a short distance in a 12-mile annual sponsored walk from Sherburn High School to Lotherton Hall.

It will take place on Monday July 4 and about 600 pupils will be taking part.

The money raised by her fellow sixth-formers, along with a donation from the school, will be put into a new bank account called The Michelle Wheatley Fund and then handed over to the emergency services.

Two Bradford Bulls Rugby League players will also be joining her on the walk.

Michelle, from Byram, was unable to take her A-levels this summer because of the crash, but plans to return to school in September to retake them in 2006.

Sherburn High deputy head teacher Philip Marr said: "Michelle is a very popular student, with bags of energy and charisma, and we're delighted to help."

Her father, Malcolm, said today that Michelle had made a remarkable recovery, although she still had a few problems with short-term memory loss.

Updated: 10:28 Tuesday, June 21, 2005