A TEENAGER who jumped from the first floor of her burning home has said an emotional thank you this week to the passersby who saved her life.

Grace Coe leapt from a height of about 15ft as flames engulfed the family home in Elm Road, March, in January. She was found in the road by three Tradelink employees on their way to work.

The 17-year-old was in a coma for a week after the fall, which happened as her family were all away celebrating her sister’s wedding in Scotland.

Grace fractured her spine and suffered bleeding on the brain but, three months later, the former Neale-Wade Community College student is looking forward to returning to a “normal life”.

She said: “I don’t remember jumping at all but I feel really lucky to be alive. Everyone asks me what happened but I can’t tell them because I don’t remember.

“I just want to say thank you to the men who found me. They saved my life.”

Grace’s mum, Becky, and father, Michael, had toasted their eldest daughter’s marriage the night before they were told of the fire.

Grace, who is studying childcare at Peterborough Regional College, missed the wedding to continue a work placement at All Saints Primary School, March.

Becky said: “We got the phone call from my sister-in-law. She said there had been a fire and Grace was on her way to hospital. She gave me a policeman’s number and he sounded quite calm.

“I just thought she had jumped out and twisted her ankle and had been taken to hospital for a check-up.

“We came straight home but I was half expecting a phone call to say she was back from hospital and having a cup of tea.”

The family returned to find Grace in a coma in Addenbrooke’s Hospital and their home devastated by fire. Their dog of 13 years, a cocker spaniel, died in the blaze along with their guinea pigs. The cause of the fire has never been established.

Becky said: “It just turned our world upside down. You go through every single emotion and it’s every parent’s worst nightmare.

“When Grace woke up, and started to get back to the old Grace, it was just a huge relief.

“We do feel very lucky. I’m not religious, but someone was with her that day.”

Mum-of-four Becky thanked friends Katie Terry, Sue, Lauren and Georgia Goode and Paul and Janet Dunn who sent them clothes and helped them recover after the blaze.

She said: “This makes you realise how many good people there are out there.

“Newspapers seem to be full of doom and gloom, and even though this started as doom and gloom, there is a postive side. Our friends have been amazing.”

The Coes, who own a car sales and repair garage, have been living in a mobile home in their garden while they wait for their house to be repaired.

“We have insisted that the insurance company uses Tradelink for all the windows,” said Becky.