Aspiring model hurled into barbed wire fence after car runs her bicycle off the road
Updated: 20:08 EDT, 26 May 2010
An aspiring model has been left with deep cuts to her face and chest after a car forced her bike off the road - and into a barbed wire fence.
Stacey Courage, 17, may need plastic surgery to repair the 63 lacerations caused when the sharp wire became embedded in her head, neck and upper body.
But she fears that her face could be scarred for life - putting an end to her ambitions of becoming a model.
Scarred: Stacey Courage suffered 63 deep cuts to her face and chest after she was run off the road on her bike into a barbed wire fence
The teenager was cycling around Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor on Monday when she claims a speeding car caused her to crash into the fence.
Stacey, from Plymouth, said: 'I looked behind me and the car was really close so I thought I would move over.
'I didn't think I was that far over, but my bike went head-first into barbed wire and the car just drove off. They knew I was there but they just left me.'
Stacey had to pull out the wire that was embedded in her skin before looking for help.
'I was holding my neck because it was pouring with blood,' she said. 'I thought I
was going to die but people just walked past looking at me. I felt so alone.'
When three passers-by did eventually come to her aid, Stacey was taken to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, where she was told the deep cuts could take up to six months to heal.
Gouges: Stacey, who hopes to become a model, may have to have plastic surgery if the cuts scar badly
She said: 'The driver has ruined my life, especially if it's going to scar really badly, because I wanted to take up modelling. They've ruined my face.'
Stacey had been cycling around the reservoir three times a week for the last few months in an attempt to lose weight before her 18th birthday.
She has shed two stone since adopting the regime, and was planning to take part in a photoshoot to create a portfolio to send to modelling agencies.
She had also been hoping to enrol at Plymouth College of Art to study photography.
But she said: 'I don't really want to do anything now. I don't even want to go out because I look really ugly.'
Her mother Lisa called on the authorities to introduce regulations that would keep visitors to the reservoir safe.
She said: 'I think there should be a speed limit or signs to say that there are people walking and bikeriding.
'Stacey was bullied in school and was called fat. With losing the weight she has just started to gain confidence, and then this happens.'
Aspiring model Stacey Courage injured after bike forced into barbed wire fence by car