A woman who awoke from a two-year coma after her children starting reading her jokes is to return home for Christmas.
Andrea Brushneen, 31, has been in a specialist care unit after being badly hurt in a car crash in October 2004.
She lapsed into a coma soon after the accident, but suddenly began laughing out loud when her daughter and son read jokes to her by her bedside.
The postal worker's family and friends helped raised £75,000 for modifications to her house in Coney Hill, Gloucester.
'Big step'
Mrs Brushneen had only been able to communicate through nods and smiles and needed 24-hour care.
But after having a breathing tube removed from her throat last month, she started to chuckle.
Her husband Mark said he, daughter Shaunagh, 11, and son, Mark, seven, spend much of their time searching for jokes to keep her amused.
"Technically, she's still in a coma but she's responsive and if you tell her a joke, she laughs.
"We're always looking for jokes to tell and she's doing really well. Coming home is going to be a big step for her though."
Mr Brushneen has given up his job as a postman to become his wife's full-time carer.
"It's going to be wonderful when the kids can say goodbye to their mummy and go to bed knowing she is in the same house," he said.
