Cheryl Allen (left), with her mother Joy Batchelor, is lucky to be alive.By Sarah Schwager
CHRISTMAS was all the more special for a Bunyip woman who came close to losing her daughter and husband in the one year.
Joy Batchelor was glad to see the new year after her daughter Cheryl Allen survived an horrific car crash in October.
“We were very lucky,” Mrs Batchelor said.
“They thought she wasn’t going to make it.”
A week later Mrs Batchelor’s husband Kevin was in hospital for a hip replacement, and also underwent treatment for prostate cancer earlier in the year.
“He’s always been really healthy and had never been to hospital before, so he was a bit nervous,” Mrs Batchelor said.
“But he came through really well.”
Mrs Batchelor said she spent most of her time at the end of last year travelling between Royal Melbourne and Maryvale Private hospitals while also trying to organise the Bunyip Music Festival, which is on 26 February.
“I’m already running behind with the festival,” she said.
Since the crash, Ms Allen, who works as a direct home worker for Cardinia Care and lives in Warragul, has been heavily involved raising funds for the Gippsland Cancer Care Centre.
Ms Allen was in intensive care after the crash on 8 October.
She had gone away for the weekend with her partner, Trevor, and was staying at a caravan park in Johnsonville in East Gippsland when she decided to drive to the local shop on the Princes Highway to get food for breakfast about 9am.
Despite having no recollection of the event, Ms Allen said she was told her car and a small fourwheel drive had collided, with her car hitting a gum tree 50 metres down the road.
She said the force of the crash pushed her onto the passenger’s seat with the driver’s seat and gearstick bent over her.
“I can’t remember the accident,” she said.
“I only remember waking up at Royal Melbourne intensive care with lots of people around me.”
Ms Allen was not breathing when emergency workers arrived and they worked on her for nearly four hours before she was stable enough to be airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
It wasn’t until 7.20pm before Mr and Mrs Batchelor were allowed to see her.
“It felt like we had been there for two days waiting,” Mrs Batchelor said.
Ms Allen had a relatively quick recovery in hospital despite receiving severe injuries that included a broken jaw, fractured skull, bleeding of the brain, broken collarbone, broken ribs, fractured vertebrae, a fractured pelvis and badly bruised lungs.
The family, including Ms Allen’s children Tim, 23, Bronwyn, 20, and Christopher, eight, were happy to have her home for Christmas.
Ms Allen and her sister Leanne decided to let their mum have a break at Christmas and did all the cooking and preparations on Christmas Day.
