A teenager who was stabbed in the back in a Fulwood play area is sharing her story to warn others about the dangers of knife crime.

Eve Cross, 19, says she is lucky to be alive after being stabbed by her former friend in March 2019.

Doctors told her if the knife had entered her back a millimetre closer to her spinal cord she would have been paralysed.

Now Eve has joined forces with Byron Highton and The JJ Effect to give a powerful message about the dangers of knives to young people in Lancashire.

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On March 1, Eve, a former Broughton High School pupil, was sitting on a wall in Levensgarth play area, Fulwood, when she was approached by her former friend, who accused her of trying to steal her boyfriend.

Eve says: “I felt what I thought were punches to my back, but then I felt the blood and realised she had stabbed me.

“She ran away and I managed to get up to try to walk to the hospital. I rang my friend and told her I’d been stabbed. I was scared to call an ambulance because I didn’t know how bad it was.

“I managed to get up. I thought I was paralysed because I was frozen, but I think that was shock. I started walking and I saw my friends, but I was dizzy and I collapsed at the end of the footpath.

“Someone pulled up in a car. His wife went into the house and came out with tea towels to stop the blood, but I had a pain in my chest because my lung had collapsed. I couldn’t breathe.

“The ambulance came but I was there for 10 minutes because they couldn’t stabilise me. They had to cut my clothes off and give me morphine.

“I was in hospital for three days. Luckily I didn’t need any surgery because I had my big coat on and a hoody and T-shirt. If I hadn’t been wearing so many clothes everything would have been so much worse.”

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Eve suffered two stab wounds either side of her spine, which needed stitching closed. One of the wounds was so close to her spinal cord doctors told her a millimeter closer would have left her paralysed.

13 months after the attack Eve says she still suffers the psychological effects of the stabbing.

“I can be driving in my car and start panicking, thinking ‘what if I see her? What if something happens again?

“When I was back at college I couldn’t concentrate. I had to drop out because I’d only be able to do a few minutes work before I started going over it all in my head.

“I don’t like going places on my own – even to the shop. I always have to have someone with me.

“She was a close friend. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I miss her, then I remember what she did.

“I think it’s only luck that I’m alive. Some days it doesn’t bother me but other days I can barely get out of bed.

“Now I’m doing this work I understand why people need to make the right choices in life, who they hang around with and what they do.

“I just want people to hear my story so they know the impact of knife crime.”

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On Friday, Eve delivered her first talk with The JJ Effect to young people in Blackpool.

Byron said: “It went really well. Eve did us proud getting the message across loud and clear. The students and staff really took it on board.”

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Eve’s attacker, who can not be named for legal reasons, was handed a 24 month youth rehabilitation order after pleading guilty to GBH and possession of a bladed article at Preston Crown Court.

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