SCHOOLBOY Max Chant who broke his back less than a year ago has made such a remarkable recovery he is gearing up for a 25-mile challenge to thank the air ambulance team that saved him.

The 11-year-old had to be airlifted to Bristol Children’s Hospital after he and little sister Emmy were in a car crash near Yatton Keynell on May 14 last year.

In one fell swoop he went from an active 10-year-old, mad on martial arts and ice hockey, to being left exhausted by just one minute out of a wheelchair.

But now gutsy Max, a pupil at Hardenhuish School, in Chippenham, is training to walk 25 miles from Marlborough to Devizes in the White Horse Challenge, so he can raise money for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance team that saved his life.

He has shocked even his surgeon by being able to take on the lengthy trek on July 5, just half a year after getting rid of the rods and screws holding his back together.

Accompanying Max in his Back on Track team will be nine of his friends, all aged 11 or 12. Sister Emmy, six, who thankfully was not seriously hurt in last year’s collision, will be showing her support by walking seven miles of the challenge with their dad Jake, while mum Sadia will be doing the full 52 miles over two days.

Mrs Chant, 40, said: “This is to stamp the fact that he is better. This will be a real thing for him, an opportunity to prove to himself that he’s done it, he’s getting his life back.

“I get really emotional seeing him doing some of the stuff he used to do, and what he should be doing as a child that’s just started secondary school.

“He could barely do much at all to start with, the pain always prevented him from going too far.

“If it wasn’t for the air ambulance’s quick thinking, I cannot even imagine what would have happened, if he’d had to go by road on a normal ambulance with his spinal cord all exposed.

“Last weekend he walked eight miles, it’s something else. The orthopaedic surgery consultant, John Hutchinson, said he was amazed at how far he’s come.

“He can’t do ice hockey until June to allow the back to strengthen. I didn’t think he would be able to do these things again, but he’s never been a quitter.”

On Tuesday Kathy Hutton, an artist in Yatton Keynell, helped Max to use the rods and screws taken from Max's back to form pieces of art. They imprinted them into a jelly substance to make prints that his mum will display in their conservatory. "We want to move on but at the same time this was a significant thing in his life," she said.

“I almost lost him that day and I won’t ever forget that. This walk is a happy ending to something really tragic and horrible.”

Max said: “I want to raise as much money for Wiltshire Air Ambulance. It means loads, because they saved my life.

“I feel fine now, well 90 per cent, I can’t do contact sports – ice hockey and football and tae kwon do. It was quite upsetting, but it will only be a few more months, so that’s making me happier.”

So far he has raised more than £400 at www.justgiving.com/backontrack-maxchant/