My brother, the miracle

O'Connor Buckley is cared for by sisters Katie-Georgia, left, and Michaela after a tragic motorbike accident. Photo / Janna Dixon

A boy who plunged into a coma after a motorbike crash that killed his dad has had his recovery captured on camera - by his sister.

O'Connor Buckley, 12, is fighting his way back to health after more than 20 operations and intensive rehabilitation.

The key moments in his recovery were filmed by his elder sister Michaela, who wanted a record of her brother's bravery if he woke up.

The family, from Putaruru in south Waikato, was joined at times by a crew working on a documentary for TV3 series Inside New Zealand.

They hope the programme will inspire others caring for people with brain injuries.

Michaela told the documentary that waiting to hear O'Connor's fate was an agonising ordeal.

"Every day it was like, 'He's going to wake up today, he's going to wake up today'," she said.

"And it's so not like that. It's not just 'snap', and he wakes up the way you think it would be. It's this long, drawn-out process where everyday it's like: 'I hope to see a little bit of improvement today'."

Michaela, then 16, started the painstaking process of filming her brother on August 13 last year, three days after her family's life was ripped apart.

O'Connor was a pillion passenger on the Triumph Thunderbird his 45-year-old dad Paul was riding, when it collided with a ute on a country road 40km from Rotorua.

The ute driver later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and injury, lost his licence and paid $50,000 reparation.

Michaela said she would never forget the moment she heard of the crash. She heard her mum crying and was told: "Dad's died in an accident."

She and her younger sister Katie-Georgia broke down - their other brother, Nicholas, was elsewhere.

"I was just out on the deck, hyperventilating and Kate has ran down to dad's room and got his jeans and was just cuddling his jeans and crying," said Michaela.

"It was such a shock and we were like, 'How's O'Connor, how's he?"'

They then learned O'Connor had suffered major head and leg injuries and was in a coma. Michaela vividly remembers the first time she saw him in hospital after the crash.

"I got separated from mum somehow and then I saw this little boy go past me on this bed, and he had blankets over him and his face was completely white.

"I've never seen anything like it in my life. He didn't look like he was alive."

The family's support for Michaela's project was summarised by his grandmother Anne Ching, affectionately known as Gran Anne.

In the week after the crash, she visited O'Connor as he lay hooked up to a life support machine in hospital and told him: "We want you to know that all the time you were asleep, and people had to look after your every need, everyone cared for you so much, and your privacy and dignity was always safeguarded. I want you to know that."

The documentary captures the delight from the first time the family saw O'Connor's eyes follow them across the room.

Other poignant moments include the family's decision to preserve Paul's body for more than a month, in the hope that O'Connor would awake and be able to attend a memorial service.

When he was able to farewell his father, it was through a nod because words were not within his reach. O'Connor was able, however, to join his siblings as they tightened bolts on Paul's casket.

O'Connor's journey to health has been a long one. About two dozen operations have included the removal of part of his skull, and he has spent much time at the Wilson Child Rehabilitation Centre on Auckland's North Shore.

It is unknown whether he will make a full recovery. He has had to relearn how to swallow, breathe, speak and even now can say only a few words at a time. He is in a wheelchair, but can stand with assistance and was ecstatic when he was able to return part-time to Putaruru College five months ago.

Louise, who told the Herald on Sunday last year that she thanked God daily for saving her son, told the documentary he was a "miracle" child.

Inside New Zealand: Bringing My Brother Back To Life screens on TV3 at 9.30pm on Wednesday.