KEY POINTS:
John Ashman felt his number was up when a 43-tonne milk tanker smashed through the wall of his home.
"I saw the grille of the truck and thought that was it," the 55-year-old told the Herald from his hospital bed in Hawkes Bay. "There was no life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment. I just sat there, braced myself and waited."
Mr Ashman was in his favourite chair and about to run a bath when his Saturday evening took a turn for the surreal. He was relaxing with a book and taking the weight off his right heel, which he broke last February.
A Fonterra truck, fully laden with 25,000 litres of milk, had veered off State Highway 2 and was on a collision course with three houses in Waipawa, 40km from Hastings.
The driver had apparently choked on a lolly and lost control.
"My dog Zac took off, and I wondered why," Mr Ashman said. "Then I heard it coming, a series of crashes. It kept getting closer and closer and I'm thinking, 'What do I do?' Then I saw the truck in the window."
There was nowhere to go for Mr Ashman, who spent most of last year recuperating from his broken heel.
"If I had two good legs, I might have taken off, but I just sat there. My eyes were open. I wasn't going to let it sneak up on me."
The truck smashed through two unoccupied neighbouring houses before Mr Ashman caught a glimpse of it. But his view of the truck disappeared as the wall, fireplace and chimney became a cloud of dust.
The truck took out the bedroom and bathroom walls as it ploughed through the hallway to the lounge and into his chair, shunting the seated Mr Ashman back about a metre into a cupboard against the wall, before coming to a rest beside a stunned Mr Ashman.
"The room just exploded, debris and dust. Imagine a bomb site. I still didn't really believe it, even though I had seen the grille of the truck as it hit. When everything stopped, I threw debris off me and leaned on the driver's door to stand up, then realised my left leg wasn't going to support my weight.
"I could see the driver was moving and figured he could look after himself. I couldn't help him. I couldn't stand."
The impact of the truck broke the tibia and fibula of Mr Ashman's left leg and exacerbated his already-sore heel. He rolled across the debris into the kitchen, where neighbours found him and lifted him to safety.
The driver was taken to hospital with cuts and bruises. He was recovering at home yesterday. Mr Ashman was reunited with Zac and taken to Hawkes Bay Hospital, where he is recovering from surgery.
Emergency services that arrived on the scene described it as a war zone. Mr Ashman's sister, Lynne Hulton, who lives next door, rushed home to find a massive hole had replaced the kitchen, bedroom and half the lounge. Philippa Campbell, whose house was first to be struck, was relieved to have been away.
The Central Hawkes Bay District Council has declared the three houses unsafe and Mr Ashman's house is to be demolished tomorrow. The landlord plans to rebuild them.
Mr Ashman is now planning a party to celebrate his continuing life. And he's counting his lucky stars.
"I've been telling people my favourite chair saved my life, took the punishment. In hindsight, [without the chair] I would have gone down the hallway, and that would have been fatal.
"It's still freaking me out."
And he holds no grudges towards the driver. "If you're choking, you don't have much control of your vehicle. I have no animosity. In fact, we're going to get a Lotto ticket together."
