ALEX Chant couldn't celebrate his 21st birthday. A month into a three month long coma, he had sustained massive brain injuries after he fell from a moving taxi after a night out in Newport on March 27, 2010.

And when his family arrived at the Royal Gwent Hospital, they were told he was not going to survive and were advised to start calling their family to tell them the bad news.

But after battling back, tomorrow Mr Chant celebrates his 25th birthday at the National Star College in Cheltenham, where he spends his week, and will be returning home at Pembroke Grove in Lliswerry for a curry with his parents Steve and Lynda in Newport at the weekend.

The Argus reported how Mr Chant was found close to Carcraft on the Southern Distributor Road back in 2010. The taxi driver fled the scene and in 2011, Mr Chant revealed to the Argus that he was pushed from the taxi by the driver.

But Mr and Mrs Chant said their son is continuing to make "steady progress" following the incident more than four years ago.

This has included Mr Chant attending the college for the past two years and he now has Welsh Government funding for another year until the end of July 2015.

At the college he has served as entertainment rep and as part of his role has organised an Italian night for fellow students.

Mrs Chant said: “It is an absolutely amazing place and there is quite a few Welsh students there. He does not stop. He does everything he can do.”

Although what will happen after the Welsh Government funding finishes next year remains unclear, his family are looking forward to taking him on holiday this summer for the second time since the accident.

They will visit Santa Ponsa in Majorca in July, where the family enjoyed a trip last year.

Mrs Chant recalled a time when they pulled him out to the sea in a boat, with her son “sitting there like a king.”

Mr Chant regularly watches Lliswerry Football Club at their home at the Wales National Velodrome and has travelled with his dad and friends to Llanelli and Barry to watch some of the club’s away fixtures.

He's also a regular visitor to the cinema.

Mr Chant, who comes back home regularly to see his siblings Claire and Matthew and nieces Alexia, Skye, Freya and Imogen, currently walks with a frame but it is hoped he will be able to use crutches soon.

Mrs Chant said: “He’s got a quality of life and he’s happy. We’re just hoping in the next few years he’ll get better.”

While Mr Chant said the family think about his son’s accident “now and again”, Mrs Chant said she thinks it’s unlikely the taxi driver will ever be caught.