LESS than a year ago dad Christopher O'Donnell spent every free moment playing football with his daughter. Now he can only watch from his hospital bed as Shelby, seven, runs around his room.

Christopher, 25, has been left paralysed after a hit and run accident last July as he crossed Edmiston Drive, near Ibrox stadium. Nine months on and still in hospital, he can only move his left arm and is confined to a wheelchair. He cannot even bend his legs.

Christopher was thrown over a car, which struck him from behind as he walked to his brother Joseph's house around midnight. He hit his head on the windscreen. The driver sped off and it is thought Christopher lay on the pavement for an hour before being discovered by an Ibrox security guard who called an ambulance.

Soon after the accident he developed kidney failure caused by his muscles being so damaged they started breaking down and releasing toxins into his body. And memory loss means he forgets about what's happened to him. Christopher' sisters Shirley O'Donnell, 41 and Audrey O'Donnell, 39, visit him in the Southern General's Physically Disabled Rehabilitation Unit every day.

Shirley said: "It's very distressing. He says he wants to have my son's bedroom when he moves out but that's upstairs and he doesn't realise he can't climb stairs.

"Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry. "But it's a good thing Christopher can't remember what happened.

"I wish I could wake up and forget the last nine months." Before the accident Christopher, who had learning difficulties and was unable to work, took Shelby to school, visited theme parks with her and played football.

He was separated from Shelby's mum.

Shirley said: "It's been hard for Shelby. She accepts it more now. She's always in bed beside daddy snuggling up to him."

Christopher, who has been left with slurred speech since the accident, has just one wish.

He said: "I want to be with my family. I want to go home." Doctors have given him the all clear to leave hospital and return to live with Shirley and her children Jonathan, 20, and Stephen, 13, in Pollok.

But the house needs an extension to cater for his needs and the family have been told it could take years.

Shirley says that despite his injuries Christopher doesn't let things get him down.

"He always was a cheeky monkey. A typical 25-year-old. He's always got a sense of humour."

Marie Wilson, community housing manager of Glen Oaks Housing Association, who manages homes in the area on behalf of GHA, said: "We are doing everything we can to ensure Mr O'Donnell will have a home suited to his needs.

"We would like to reassure him we are treating his case as urgent and plans for adaptations to his property are being drawn up."