Angel of mercy

Damian Malcolm.

By TANIA PHILLIPS

A STANTHORPE man is hoping to finally say thank you to the woman who saved his life after a crash south-west of Maryvale almost 13 years ago.
When home handyman and writer Damian Malcolm wrote about his experience on his blog at the weekend it not only struck a chord with his readers but also started him on a campaign to find the person who he believes helped save his life after the “life-changing incident”.
“I think I would give her a big hug and say thank you first and foremost,” Damian said.
“I just appreciate her being there – I imagine she did a lot more than I remember.”
The accident happened on 22 October at around 9.15am on the Cunningham Road “somewhere around Maryvale” when he fell asleep at the wheel and his 1979 “rust brown” Nissan Skyline rolled several times.
“At the scene of my accident, there was a lady who was there to help me,” he recalled.
“I never saw her and can’t recall her name. She kept me conscious until the ambulance arrived, and apparently also may have called my family to tell them I’d been hurt. I only remember her voice and how she kept me holding on.”
He said he and his friends, who were travelling in a second car, had stopped at a small cafe for breakfast at Aratula.
“I followed Allan about 10 kilometres past Cunninghams Gap, then fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road,” he said.
“I rolled in the ditch, end over end, at 100km/h, the car coming to a rest about 50 metres from the highway, crushed and upside down in a paddock.”
The then 20-year-old managed to scramble out of his car, pressing a car mat to his head to stem the bleeding from a cut to his forehead and crawled out through the window before being met by the woman.
“I remember I couldn’t actually see because of the blood in my eyes, so I don’t know how far away from the wreckage I had managed to get myself,” he said.
“But I heard several voices of people running up from the highway, one of which was a woman that I’ll never, ever forget: ‘Oh my God! He’s alive. Someone ring the ambulance? Hey, hey, are you OK?’
“She rested my head on her knees; I never saw her, only heard her voice. She kept me together until the ambulance arrived, asking me questions to make sure I hadn’t lost it or gone into shock. I was fully lucid, and could recall my name, family names, addresses, etc. To this day I regret never getting her name or finding out who she was.”
He was taken to hospital in Warwick for treatment with multiple cuts and bruises, a head injury and a detached clavicle and later allowed to leave.
And while he believes he would have probably survived without her, he also credits the accident with changing his life.
“I had been working in a dead-end job in a factory for three years and slowly going brain dead (before the accident),” he said.
“I’d like to show her that I created a new life – I met my wife and I’ve got four kids, I’m running my own business and writing – fantastic things that I never thought I’d be capable of.”
Damian said he hoped the good samaritan was still living around the area or might have told a friend about the incident so he could shed some light on the mystery and finally say thank you.