A devastated father faces the heartbreaking reality that he may never properly hug his young daughter again following a horrific accident that left him paralysed from the neck down. Steven Gibbons, from Broadstairs, Kent, was behind the wheel on the A28 when he caught a kerb at a roundabout, causing his vehicle to overturn.

The 32-year-old lost all sensation in his limbs, and medics subsequently discovered he had suffered a severed spinal cord with minimal prospects of recovery. The ex-head chef now confronts a future reliant on a wheelchair.

His younger sister, Hannah, describes one heartbreaking reality of his condition - that Steven will "never be able to properly hug" his four-year-old daughter again.

"He can't get up and run around with her, and she sees him differently," she said. "She's very cautious around him now."

Hannah, 30, remembered the moment she learned of the collision on 18 May last year. "Steven and I lived together - we were quite close," she said.

"The door went at about 11pm, and I thought, 'Oh, he's left his keys at home.' Then I've gone down, seen the torch and thought, 'That's the police, so what's he done?' They said he's been in a very serious accident. At first, it was just overwhelming."

Hannah rushed to her parents' home to wake them before reaching King's College Hospital in London around 3am. Steven had been put into an induced coma, with initial X-rays showing he had fractured his neck in two locations, though doctors were at first uncertain about the complete severity of his injuries.

In the days afterwards, the family desperately hoped he might recover some movement. "We were sort of desperately trying to seek that validation that something good was going to happen," she said. "One of the nurses said she felt his fingers twitch, so we took it, and we ran with it. We were very happy.

"Then doctors had a meeting with my parents. My mum came into the room crying. I thought it was the worst case possible, and she said, 'No, it's good news.' They said it was just going to be his legs that he couldn't feel."

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Yet the family were subsequently informed that Steven had been left quadriplegic. He was moved to the QEQM Hospital in Margate before being transferred for specialist care at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, where he continues to receive treatment - 130 miles away from home.

Hannah said: "He severed his spinal cord, which cut off his nervous system and that's what caused him not to be able to move. We had to accept the fact that my brother was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It was absolutely heartbreaking."

Whilst Steven avoided severe brain injury and remains conscious and able to speak normally, the psychological toll of the accident has been devastating. His sister said: "The first thing he said when I saw him was, 'My life's over.' I said, 'Well, at least you've got one.' He said, 'Well, what life is this? I can't feel anything.'" While Steven has grown "very optimistic" in recent months, some days he's simply "just fed up".

After spending over eight months in hospital, his main wish now is to return home. He's weighing up the option of experimental shoulder surgery that might restore some function to his arms and hands. The procedure, though, comes with just a 10 per cent success rate.

Steven had been working as head chef at Njord Bar and Cafe in Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate, when the accident happened – just two days before he was meant to start a fresh role at the Korean Cowgirl in Canterbury.

His relatives are now raising money to make necessary modifications to his parents' Broadstairs property so he can move back in. You can donate here.

Hannah said: "He's entitled to a mobility car; we then still have to put a deposit on the car. Then we have to get the accessories to go with it, and then we have to do an extension of my mum's annexe where he'll be living, because it's not mobility appropriate at the moment.

"There are so many different costs that we have, just to get him home. He will never be able to live by himself again."

The GoFundMe appeal, launched less than a week ago, has already brought in more than £2,100 towards its £25,000 goal. You can donate here: www.gofundme.com/f/vp7f2e-gibbons-family.