Crushed in body, but not spirit

Jacqueline Wyatt says she remembers only parts of the accident. Photo / Simon Baker

She's lucky to be alive, but 12-year-old Jacqueline Wyatt will have to learn to walk again.

The Blenheim student caught under the wheels of a truck and trailer while cycling to school last month is back in the South Island after treatment at Auckland's Starship hospital. She faces a long and difficult road to recovery.

She was shifted to Christchurch Hospital last week, and will stay there for about eight weeks before moving to a rehabilitation centre for an expected three months.

She has had two operations to set her broken pelvis in place using a metal frame and screws. She cannot feel or move her right leg.

"That's just a waiting game," Jacqueline's mother, Paulette Wyatt, told the Herald. "That's just all nerve damage. It may come right, it may not. You just don't know,"

The rehabilitation would be to "train her how to move herself, and how we can do things". Jacqueline had been out of bed only a few times to sit in a wheelchair for about 20 minutes at a time.

"But because her tailbone is all smashed up, she can't sit for too long. It hurts too much. So she's basically on bedrest for another seven weeks until all the bits and pieces get taken out, and then they will start moving her more."

Jacqueline appeared to have clipped the truck while cycling through a section of roadworks. She lost control of her bike and went under the back wheels of the truck's trailer unit.

The driver, Tex Simmons, said he was not aware until later what had happened.

He has met Jacqueline's family, who told him it was an accident, and not to "beat himself up over it".

Jacqueline remembers only some of the accident. Though her body has a lot of healing to do, her spirits are high. She told the Herald from her hospital bed, where she has computer games to keep her busy, that she was "feeling good".

Mrs Wyatt said: "She's like her mother - very positive. She has her bad days when she gets upset, but that's expected".

Jacqueline has missed friends, but one friend who saw the accident had been to visit her at Starship, and others travelled to Christchurch to see her at the weekend.

Being closer to home also means she can see more of her four brothers.

"We put a Christmas tree up for her (near her hospital bed) and she will wrap her own presents and put them under there," Mrs Wyatt said. "And my husband and the boys are coming late Christmas morning.

"So we'll open our presents when we all get there. It'll be a bit different this year."

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The accident has taken a financial toll on the Wyatt family, but donations are being taken via the ASB account 12 3167 0162160 56, under the name JDM Wyatt