A TEENAGER who was badly brain damaged in a car accident more than two years ago has died without ever regaining consciousness.

Nicola Jane Kenyon, 19, of Fernlea Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, who had been in a persistent vegatative state since the accident, died in a rehabilitation centre on New Year's Day.

The Blackburn College student was crossing Market Street in Church with two friends after a night out when the accident happened in November 1997.

She was 17 when she suffered serious head injuries in the collision with a Fiat Punto driven by 41-year-old Stephen Francis Machaj, of White Ash Lane, Oswaldtwistle.

Paramedics treated her at the scene and she was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary and then the head injuries unit at the Royal Preston Hospital.

Parents Melvin and Pauline and her elder sister Andrea kept a vigil at Nicola's bedside, but she never regained consciousness.

She died at the Elton Rehabilitation Centre, Bury, on New Year's Day after more than two years in a persistent vegatative state. An inquest was opened at Blackburn Magistrates' Court yesterday and adjourned until April 5.

Nicola had been a pupil at Mount Carmel RC School, Accrington and had started studying for an NVQ in retail at Blackburn College two months before her accident.

At the time, Blackburn College principal Sheena Ewing said Nicola was a hard-working, bubbly and happy student.

A nine-year-old girl was killed on the same road only a month before Nicola was injured. Jolene Lindsay, of Bright Street, Oswaldtwistle, was crossing the road when she was in collision with a car and suffered serious head injuries.

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