Jessica Knight was left for dead, stabbed 30 times in a frenzied attack as she walked alone through a park close to her home.

And for six days the 14-year-old schoolgirl lay in a coma, devastated by a stroke as she fought for life on the surgeon's table.

Her desperate parents stayed by her bedside, willing her to open her eyes - until a miracle arrived in the most unexpected form: Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

A surprise hospital visit - and a bit of singing - from Ginger Spice, set Jessica on the road to recovery.

"Geri sang a couple of lines of one of their songs and Jessica started moving her arms and legs," says mum Jill Walmsley.

"It was amazing. We were all in fits of giggles because we were so relieved and it was just so funny seeing her legs move to Geri's singing.

"The next day, she opened her eyes for the first time."

The visit had been arranged by a family member who got in touch with the Spice Girls while they were performing their reunion tour in Manchester last month. Jessica had been stabbed just two days before she was due to see the Spice Girls in concert.

"I only found out Geri was coming half an hour beforehand," says Jill. "You just don't expect to be sitting in the hospital and for Geri Halliwell to walk in.

"She gave me a big hug and said that Jessica's story had really touched her.

"It's just such a shame Jessica can't remember anything about it - when I told her Geri had been to visit her, she looked stunned and said 'No way!'

"Luckily, Geri left her a wristband from the Spice Girls concert as proof!"

Now, just seven weeks after the attack, Jessica, of Chorley, Lancs, is making great strides towards recovery and has finally started walking again.

And in her first interview, mum Jill says the brave teen's will and determination are truly inspiring.

"As a mum, you're always proud of your kids, but she's made me the proudest mum ever. She's so wonderful."

On January 21, Jessica had been walking through Astley Park, near her home to meet friends.

She was stabbed in the neck, chest, face and back and left for dead on the dimly-lit path.

If it wasn't for a passing cyclist, who spotted Jessica slumped and bleeding, she may not have survived the random knife attack.

He saved her life by pressing a paper tissue over one terrible wound in her neck.

Jessica was taken to hospital where the six-hour battle to save her life began.

Jill first heard of her Jessica's plight at 10pm, when her beloved daughter had already been in theatre for four hours.

"We rang the police at 9.20pm saying she hadn't come home," says Jill, a healthcare assistant at Chorley Hospital.

"They came round shortly after to tell us the terrible news.

"What happened when the police officers came to the house is all a bit of a blur. I was just in shock. It's a situation you never want to be in."

At the hospital, Jill waited anxiously for her daughter to come out of surgery.

"They didn't say how many times she had been stabbed," says Jill. "They just said it was going to be touch and go." It was only when she saw Jessica in intensive care, hooked up to various tubes, that Jill realised the extent of her injuries.

"I've been in intensive care before during my work at the hospital so I had an idea of what to expect.

"Even so, I couldn't believe it was my daughter lying there, she looked so different."

During that excruciating first week, all Jill and Jessica's dad Richard could do was pray for their little girl to wake up.

"I kept talking to her about who had been to see her, which friends had visited and other people would talk to her," says Jill.

Still, the nightmare felt unreal.

"It really didn't hit home until I saw a picture of Jessica on a news report on TV."

Jessica was moved to Manchester Children's Hospital and has now had four operations in total.

Paralysed by the stroke, Jessica initially communicated by wiggling her toes - one wiggle for yes, two for no - and it took a further three weeks for her to begin talking again.

"I don't remember her first words, it's all such a haze," says Jill. "It didn't matter though. Richard and I were so choked, so relieved that she was trying to talk."

Amazingly, Jessica is in good health now and is hoping to go home soon.

"She's absolutely fine physically," says Jill. "Her progress is really good and improving all the time.

"She's even beginning to walk properly, although when she's tired, it does get harder."

As part of her job, Jill helps stroke victims with their rehabilitation so it is particularly strange to see her young daughter go through the same recovery process.

"She gets worked up sometimes," Jill says.

"She just wants to get back to normal, go out with her mates and stuff. She hasn't lost her cheekiness though - she's definitely the daughter we had before.

"Things that got me worried before, like paying the bills and worrying about this and that, they don't matter at the end of the day because life is more important."

Although Jill is separated from Richard, the pair have been united in their support for their daughter.

"We just had to be there for Jessica," she says. "It's for her sake."

But Jill admits splitting her days between the hospital and home, while trying to make time for her son Chris, 17, has taken its toll.

"I'm exhausted and there have been moments when I've just wanted to scream or cry.

"I've been going from one emotion to the next," she says. "But you've got to get on with it. No matter how you feel, you've got to pick yourself up."

It's her friends and family who have helped Jill through the worst weeks of her life.

"My family have been amazing, and my friends have been overwhelmingly supportive. It's incredibly heartwarming."

And Jill will never forget the people who have given her precious daughter her life back. "The doctors have been truly wonderful," says Jill. "And of course the person who found her in the park and saved her life.

"When she was attacked, she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

"But after it happened, she must have been in the right place at the right time to survive this."

When Jessica is well enough, the family are hoping to go on a holiday of a lifetime to Florida, helped by a fundraising drive by kind-hearted locals in Chorley.

But for now, Jessica's concentrating on getting back to being a normal teenager - by watching DVDs and eating take-aways.

"We've been watching Friends, and Hollyoaks on the television," says Jill. "And Doctor Who. She's a big fan of David Tennant.

"But she's costing me a fortune in take-aways at the moment. KFC bargain buckets, or crispy duck pancakes!"

Frenchman Kristofer Beddar, 21, faces trial accused of attempted murder.

WAKE ME UP..

Yvonne Sullivan, 28, from Weston-Super-Mare was nagged back to consciousness by her husband Dom, 37, who yelled: "Don't you dare give up on me now."

Fall victim Claudia De'Alwis, five, was woken by James Blunt's You're Beautiful on the radio.

Amy Pickard, 23, came out of a six-year coma after being given the sleeping pill Zolpidem.

Paralysed by stroke

Jessica suffered a stroke as a result of her ordeal.

Yesterday, Minority Report actress Samantha Morton, 30, revealed she had been left unable to walk after a stroke two years ago.

Itn newsreader Carol Barnes died on Saturday aged 63, following a stroke.

Every year, 150,000 people in the UK suffer a stroke.

The majority are over 65, but it can happen at any age.

A stroke - which occurs when the blood flow to the brain is cut off - is the third most common cause of death in this country and a leading cause of adult disability.

The first signs are numbness or paralysis on one side of the body, slurred speech, a severe headache or confusion.

You can reduce your risk of having a stroke by stopping smoking, taking regular exercise, avoiding heavy drinking and eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.

For more information, go to www.stroke.org.uk or call 0845 3033 100.