Friday 21st November started out like any normal day that I go to work and Chop stays home with Eddie. I wondered what was going on at 9:40am when my mobile phone started ringing with a call from my husband. I stepped outside my office, and heard the words that made my heart skip... "Don't freak out" - my mind starts racing - "but Eddie just got hit by a 4WD with an old guy behind the wheel. We were on a pedestrian crossing and he just didn't see us. He hit the stroller. But Eddie is alright!" My whole world stood still in that moment. I could hear my husband's voice shaking as he tried to hold back tears, and I remember insisting that he gets to the hospital to make sure that Eddie really is OK. But he assured me that Eddie was running around the house and giggling like normal. He said that Eddie cried when the impact happened, and cried more when people came running at him from everywhere screaming and trying to help. Chop said he had to try and keep as calm as possible so Eddie would relax more. He told me that he got all the details of the elderly driver and witnesses and that a local jewellery store owner will be emailing him the CCTV footage of the crash, which he added, looked pretty bad and maybe he wouldn't let me see it.
I got off the phone and cried. My mind started thinking about how close we were to losing our baby boy! I told a couple of people at work, then jumped on a train to get home to see my boys and give them both big hugs.
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I got off the phone and cried. My mind started thinking about how close we were to losing our baby boy! I told a couple of people at work, then jumped on a train to get home to see my boys and give them both big hugs.
Hearing about the accident, and picturing it in my mind, then seeing that both of them were totally fine, was just soooo amazing. It made me think that the accident could not have been 'as bad' as Chop described. Surely there would have been more damage on the stroller, instead of just a little scratch!
I decided to change my thinking of the experience from a near tragedy, to a triumph! My son really could be the "man of steel"! I refer to the experience of me beginning labour and having my first contractions whilst watching the Superman film 'Man of Steel' in June 2013 (see blog post: Eddie's Birth Story Part I). Could my child really be Superman? Yes, yes he can. He stops moving 4WD's in his path! What other 16 month old baby could do that?!
Well, life went back to normal after that, but nothing could prepare me for seeing the actual CCTV footage of the accident. If anything, Chop underplayed the incident in his description over the phone. The video shows how the elderly driver waited for a lady to finish crossing the road, then started to speed up before hitting Eddie. Eddie's stroller was thrown in the air. Luckily Chop had a split second to brace himself and get a strong grip of the handle, and try to twist the stroller out of the way just as it was hit. Anyway, here is the CCTV footage, but before you watch it please remember that they both are totally OK! You will be so amazed at how this can be true. Press play on the below YouTube video.
So you may want to know what's going to happen with the elderly driver. Well, he is getting a ticket for 'Failure to Stop at a Pedestrian Crossing', and is also being sent in for a licence review (to test his eyesight and driving abilities). It doesn't seem like much, and it would be far worse (for all involved) had he actually caused injuries. In the video you see the driver speeding off, but he had been yelled at by my husband to find a car park and come back. When he returned he kept saying "is the little girl alright?" - if you look at any photos of Eddie, you'll probably agree that there is no mistaking that he is such a BOY! Obviously this old guy needs glasses!
It was all such a massive shock for us all to go through. If I had been the one pushing the stroller, I would have been an hysterical mess! When I was 19 years old, I watched my Mum get hit by a car and I thought she was dead. She survived that accident, but spent about a month in the ICU with a crushed lung, bad head injuries and broken bones, and she was never the same again. Seeing that accident really messed me up, and I just cannot imagine having the same thing happen to my beautiful baby boy who we struggled so hard to bring into this world! My cousin said that it might have been Eddie's grandmother's who were looking out for him and protecting him. I like to believe that.
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Holy crap Ali. That is terrifying. And looked like he was going FAST. I am so bloody glad that he is okay, and hubby too. My heart stopped seeing that.
ReplyDeleteThanks Aly! It's sooooo frightening isn't it?! If they weren't OK, there's no way I would post that video up - because it would be way too distressing.
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