48 | October• 2018
“FIND MY SON”
toahalt.AllTonycouldseewasthe
densebush,withnosignofacaror
even any broken branches.
“Where is he?” he shouted to the
growing crowd of onlookers and
helpers. hey pointed down the slope
andTonyscrambledthroughthe
bush to reach his son. “Dad’s here,
mate,” he said. “Dad’s here.”
Samturnedhisheadandsmiled at
him.“Dad,I’dloveadrink”.PERSEVERANCE PAYS
Within half an hour, 40 emergency
services vehicles, including am-
bulance and police rescue, had ar-
rived on the scene. It took one-and
-a-half hours for
them to stabilise
the car from slip-
ping further down
the slope, remove
the roof so they
could access Sam
andslidehimout
through the back.
He was conscious
but his blood pres-
sure had dropped,
he was critically dehydrated and
he’d lost a lot of blood. His big
brotherLuke,whohadarrivedinhis
owncar,satnexttohiminthefront
seat throughout the rescue, while
Tonywaitedanxiouslyontheroad.
Sam was very badly injured. He
had a compound fracture of the fe-
mur–alife-threateninginjury–as
well as fractures in his spine, neck,He clambered around a bush and
there was the car. He could see Sam’s
head. And then it moved. Sam was
liftinghishead!Hewasalive!
“Are you all right, mate?” Michael
yelledasheburstintoaruntowards
his nephew.
He assessed Sam quickly. He was
confused, but he was breathing. At
firsttherewasnoobviousbloodor
injuries,exceptacutonhisfingers
and his eyes were glazed as he lapsed
in and out of consciousness. Hover-
ingafewmetresabove,Leecould
seeMichaeljumpingupanddown,
giving him twin thumbs up – the joy
writtenalloverhisbody.
BACK AT THE
HOUSE, the text
buzzed on Tony’s
phone. “They’ve
found the car!” he
yelled.Withinsec-
onds everyone in
thehouse–other
thanLeigh–was
running for their
vehicles. Tony leapt
intothedriver’sseatwithMichael’s
wife, Eileen, beside him and they
hurtled towards the location, just a
short distance down the road.
Minutes into their journey the
phone rang. It was Michael. Eileen
answeredwhileTonysteppedonthe
pedal.“He’salive!He’salive!”
Andthereaheadtheycouldseethe
helicopter hovering as they screeched
TONY SCRAMBLED
THROUGH THE
BUSH TO REACH
HIS SON.“DAD’S
HERE, MATE,”
HE SAID