FOR seven months, Kate Weston was on a life-support machine after she was struck down by a mysterious brain illness while on holiday.

Now the 26-year-old is coming home for Christmas with her devoted family - and their remarkable story is to feature in a television documentary.

The former Aldworth Science College and BCOT pupil will appear in The Brain Hospital, a three-part BBC series about life at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, one of the world's leading brain hospitals.

Miss Weston, who still struggles to speak, told The Gazette that she had found watching the BBC's programme difficult, as she did not remember anything.

She said: "I am looking forward to Christmas and hoping to regain my independence."

Miss Weston was treated at the hospital after becoming ill on a Spanish holiday in August 2005, while working as a nanny.

She returned to the UK when her speech became slurred and she had difficulty understanding people.

Her condition deteriorated and she was transferred to Southampton General Hospital, where she began to have repeated epileptic seizures, forcing doctors to put her into a drug-induced coma.

Eventually, she was transferred to The National Hospital, where doctors believed her illness was caused by encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, which is usually a rare consequence of a viral infection. However, countless tests showed nothing wrong.

A team of medical staff at the hospital, led by Dr Nick Hirsh, administered many different drugs in an effort to control seizures, and eventually decided to use an experimental course of Ketamine, which would "switch off" the electrical activity in her brain.

However, doctors cannot say for certain what caused her recovery.

While she was in the hospital, Miss Weston's father, Trevor, 57, visited her every day.

Mr Weston, who gave up his job at Coral betting shop, in Brighton Hill, said: "As a family, we all played our part.

"I was told she had a 50/50 chance of survival, but I never considered she wouldn't make it. I used to sit with her and whisper in her ear that she would be okay. Now we're looking forward to Christmas together."

Miss Weston is currently living in a rehabilitation unit in Southampton, but spends the weekends at her father's house in Rossini Close, Brighton Hill, which he shares with his partner, Avril Orr, 50, and her children Aaron, 16, and Shaun, 14.

Physically, she is almost back to normal and, mentally, is making daily progress, although her speech has been the slowest thing to return.

Mr Weston praised the hospital's staff. He said: "They were determined not to be beaten.

"Dr Hirsh told me that, in 18 years, he'd never seen anything like it, but he never gave up."

Miss Weston's sister Pauline Seabrook, 36, said: "The nurses were unbelievable. Once Kate started getting better, it was their care that brought her on."

Her other sister, Sara Andrews, 39, added that their father had also played a major part in her care.

She said: "I don't believe Kate would have made it without dad's love and willpower.

"He held the family together during this crisis."