Rollercoaster crash like 'hitting a car at 90mph': 10 years on from Alton Towers Smiler injuries
Leah and Joe, from South Yorkshire, were just 17 and 18-years-old and on a date when the carriage they were riding on the Smiler ride crashed into the empty carriage ahead.
The pair were left serious injuries with Joe suffering two shattered kneecaps and damage to his hands and Leah having damage to her legs and a fractured hand.
She went on to have her left leg amputated above the knee.
The crash, on 2 June 2015, led to operator Merlin being fined £5m, with compensation paid to the 16 victims.
Speaking through representatives at the legal firm Stewarts, the pair described how having each other got them through their recovery.
Joe said: 'We had to learn not only how to walk again, but how to build a relationship with each other again.'
'Looking back now, me and Joe sticking together, we were such a good support for each other. Yes, our injuries were there and everything else around us was going off, but we still had that relationship and friendship and that got us through everything,' Leah added.
The Smiler was the couple's first ride of the day after entering the park.
"I think if I remember rightly if you compare it to a car accident it was the equivalent of driving into a car at 90 miles an hour. It was pretty severe," added Joe.
"I looked down at my legs and realised that something wasn't right," said Leah.
"I looked at Joe and Joe's little finger was hanging off."
It took a number of hours for them to be rescued from the ride in a complex operation which involved the Air Ambulance flying in blood for Leah.
"If it wasn't for the air ambulance and other services on the day I know I wouldn't be here today."
Leah spent five days in intensive care and was in hospital for eight weeks in total.
Partner at Stewarts, Anna Wiseman acted for Leah and Joe in their case.
She said: 'Leah was young when I first met her, she was only 17. For her to go through that process and be injured in the way that she was, was quite terrifying for her.'
Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd admitted breaches of the Health and Safety Act in what bosses called "the most serious incident" in Alton Towers' history.
Reflecting on a decade since the crash, the couple, who recently got married say the incident has brought them closer together.
"You've always got to find the positive in the negative and just got to grab life, because it's so precious, and make the most of it" added Leah.
The couple are using the anniversary to host a ball to support the Midlands Air Ambulance, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the LimbBo Foundation, a charity which supports limb-different children.
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