“When the other car hit,all I saw were lights – the other driver’s headlights – straight in my face,and I thought I was about to die,” she says.
Kerryn Grafton suffered serious injuries in a head-on road crash in August 2023 on the Gold Coast.Joe Armao
Grafton’s Honda CR-V was crushed like an accordion by the impact and her right leg was trapped.
“I remember the airbags going off,and my son[the front seat passenger] getting out of the car,” she says. “A man held my hand and said,‘it’s all right,love,I’ve got you’. I said,‘just get me out of the car’.
“My right leg blew up[swelled] instantly,and so did my gut.
“The other car ended up in my back seat. They had to cut that car out of my car,then cut me out of my car,which took an hour and 20 minutes.”
“Then the ambos took me to hospital. It was horrendous.”
That was in August 2023,on the Gold Coast in Queensland,where Grafton lives. The occupants of the other car survived.
The aftermath of the head-on car crash that Grafton and her son survived. Grafton’s car is the one on the right.Supplied
Grafton was visiting her hometown,Melbourne,over Christmas,and has decided to move back to Victoria in 2024 to be closer to family.
The 59-year-old,whose son suffered internal injuries in the accident and had to have part of his bowel removed,says the accident changed her life “completely and totally”.
Grafton was in hospital for five weeks and couldn’t start to walk until mid-October,on crutches.
She says 2023 has been “hands down” the worst year of her life.
She is speaking as part ofThe Age series The Year I ... which tells of people’s life-changing experiences in 2023.
The day in October 2023 when Grafton started walking again after her accident.Supplied
Grafton called for motorists to slow down and concentrate because she now knows that people can.
Or they could become,like her,part of the so-called hidden road toll:the injured.
She is still recovering from broken right leg and foot bones,two hernias,two fractured ribs and a deep gash to her abdomen that took more than two months to close.
Grafton had four operations in 10 days,including having a metal rod and pins put in her leg. Today,it’s painful to walk or stand for more than a few minutes.
Grafton has been instructed not to lift anything and can’t drive.
She needs help to shop,cook and clean. But Grafton,a former nurse and medical practice manager,says it’s the mental scars that linger.
Grafton in hospital after the accident,with facial injuries from her car’s airbags.Supplied
She has weekly trauma counselling.
“I haven’t watched the news for four months because every time I do there’s a car accident where people are killed. I’d probably start crying.
“I cry in the car,as a passenger. Because you’ve got no control.”
Grafton says she is not the active,happy-go-lucky woman her family once knew.
“Life as you know it is finished. Doctors,nurses,physios,everybody else has control of your life. And you’ve got to advocate for yourself so hard because people won’t listen to you.”
She says society treats like second class citizens. At an airport,after a flight was delayed,she was in a wheelchair by herself.
An airline staffer told her to retrieve her luggage from a carousel downstairs then check in again and go through security – and that she had to get to her gate in 40 minutes. Eventually,a staff member helped her.
One ray of light recently was watching her two-year-old granddaughter open her presents on Christmas Day. “If I’m crying because I’m in pain she’ll say,‘do you need a dummy’? She’ll say ‘I’ll kiss you better’,and she’ll kiss me better.”
Grafton’s wishes for 2024,apart from moving back home and spending time with loved ones,are clear. “I just want to get better. And get my life back. That’s all I want to do.”
The reason behind Victoria's staggering road toll has been revealed as deaths reach a 15-year high.
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