Recovery

2 December 2002 - 11 January 2003 Sydney -RECOVERY

When I last spoke to you all we had just been treated to a fantastic night at the Sydney Airport Hilton by Citroen Australia and were off to the launch of their new car the C3. We arrived on time and were given a fantastic greeting by all of the employees of Citroen. They all seemed to be very proud of our adventure and Matilda was proudly lined up with the new C3 for photo shoots. When the invited journalists began to arrive they to were very pleased to see Matilda and hear first hand of our trip in what is really the forrunner of the current motor car.

I was just a little nervous that Matilda was taking the limelight which belonged on that day to the C3 but as nobody else seemed to mind I relaxed and stopped worrying as well. Finally all of the formalities were over and Matilda let a cavalcade of new C3’s out of the courtyard and on to the open road. A short way down the road we peeled off and set sail for Canberra.

We made a short detour to the new Peter Donelly Citroen delearship in Campbelltown where with the help of the staff in the service department we managed to fix our mobile phone and replace yet another screw which had worked itself loose from the magneto (do you think Tom is trying to shock me to death or what?).With a smile and a wave we were off again bound for Canberra and a reception which had been long arranged.

We were travelling on the hard shoulder at about 50km/hr talking, of all things, about Tom being given life membership of the Austen 7 club of Western Australia. I, tongue in cheek, had suggested that perhaps they knew something that we didn’t, when bang!! The world changed in a twinkling. A kalidascope view of the world followed; the vinyl roof, pieces of seat and the steering wheel and then nothing.

This is the point at which in the romantic novel I should have taken control of the situation and regardless of my personal injuries I should have been organising everyone else and doing wonderful things. No such luck. I just lay on the hot road and faded into and out of consciousness and screamed occasionally when someone moved me. Time stood still while the pain went on and on and on. Firstly we were waiting for the ambulance and then for the helicopter to airlift me to the trauma unit at Liverpool Hospital and then finally that airlift to the hospital.

My memory of the incident is one which like a child’s jigsaw is missing half the pieces and the other half have been all mixed up. I remember seeing Tom. He was crying and somehow I could not take it into my head why he would cry. My daughter Jolynne and my sister June were there and other friends and friendly but unknown faces kept appearing. Pain was always there and the effort of answering the simplest questions seemed to be incredible.

But we were alive and somehow we had come through reasonably intact.

Many wonderful things have happened to us in these two weeks. The offers of help and support have been overwhelming. A wonderful couple, Joe and Helen Schembri have cared for Tom and our friends Sandra and Elliott. The car is being cared for by Jerry and Yo Freed of Wollongong. It was wonderful to have Jolynne and June fly over to be with me and towards the end of their stay my son Luke (remember earlier reports) of Tom Price put everything on hold and flew to Sydney to be with me. It was a wonderful time and I am well aware that it was time I would not have had if this awful event had not occurred. It is difficult to mention all the phone calls, flowers and well wishes that I have received and I thank everyone for them. As I remember very little of the first week and a half after the accident please forgive me if I should fail to recall something someone has done.

I’ll sign off and get Tom to down load this. Please keep in touch as that contact is especially important to us now.

Bye for now

Lois

Tom's mobile has been resurrected so feel free to ring him directly.

Lois has been released from hospital, and all is looking well.

Well, folks, Happy new year to you all.

Some people have wished us a better new year than last year, but I have to say that with the exception of the dreadful accident, that 2002 was a wonderful year.

Lois and I had the most wonderful 5 weeks travelling and I'd been to Chicago earlier in the year with the Castlewood Busker organ. We met Sandra and Elliott, the Citroen 2CV travellers, at Easter and they became good friends of ours.

After the accident the members of the Citroen car club of New South Wales have given us fantastic support and we have been the house guests of Helen and Joe Schembri and then of Yo and Gerry Freed. Ateco (Citroen Australia) have been most supportive and helpful during our troubles, especially Edward Rowe. Elliott and Sandra, who we were going to meet in Canberra on the day of the accident, turned up at Liverpool NSW Hospital and have been with us ever since. They have along with others helped to rebuild the terribly smashed up Matilda. Thanks to Gus, Keith, Todd, Elliott, Craig and Gerry. Yo fed all these people too and she is a top gourmet chef too !!!.

Friends in West Australia have also been running around to help us in our plight. The list is so extensive that I am afraid that I will miss out some people if I start naming names. But I must name some people. Thanks to Dot and Barry for the help you have given us. Shayne Harris has been fantastic running around collecting parts and sending them off and also sorting out paperwork that I would have had no chance with from my hospital bed (or even now for that matter). He is the best back up team you can have.

Thanks to all those people who sent the flowers to Lois and all those get well cards through the mail and though the email.

I have missed people out I know because the list is so extensive but a huge thankyou to you all.

We have had a computer virus which has caused us problems with sending recent updates, but we will soon have that sorted and I will be able to send you the updates of the rebuild along with some photos.
All the best for 2003

Love to all from Tom and Lois