DOCTORS SAY I MAY NEVER WALK AGAIN CRASH VICTIM TELLS OF HER DEVASTATION
A YOUNG mother from Co Fermanagh has been told she may never walk again after a car crash that killed her two friends.
Rachel Elliott (25) from outside Irvinestown was badly hurt in the accident in Bundoran, Co Donegal, last month. She suffered serious injuries to her brain, back and pelvis after being thrown out of the back window of a blue Peugeot 306 in which she was a passenger.
The car hit a wall and two of the six passengers were killed — Conall McAlleer (20), from Kesh, and mother-of-one Shiva Devine (20), from Belleek.
Two others in the car were also seriously injured.
Ms Elliott said she is now terrified about how she will care for her three-year-old son Ronnie after doctors told her there is little chance she will ever walk again.
“It’s horrible, knowing that I can’t move my legs,” she told the Impartial Reporter.
“It’s awful. I feel like loads of weights are on my legs. When the doctor told me how serious it was I cried my eyes out.
“They say my spinal cord is crushed and there is only a one per cent chance of walking again.
“I know they have to be brutally honest with you, but I still can’t believe it.”
Ms Elliott underwent a further operation for her shoulder in Belfast on Thursday.
“What hurts the most is the thought of not being able to run after my child,” she said.
“If they send me home in a wheelchair, how am I going to get out of bed at night to get my child a bottle? How do I manage that? How do I cope if I am in a wheelchair?”
This week her mother Susan said on social media: “Hope in a miracle she will walk again some day.”
A former pupil of St Mary’s College, Ms Elliott had initially been transferred to Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital from Sligo University Hospital after the accident.
Left in a coma, her family feared she would not survive or would have suffered serious brain damage.
When she regained consciousness she vowed to fight her way back to health for her son.
Family friend John Garrity, who is a singer, is hoping to help by organising a country night at Enniskillen Hotel on October 8 to raise money for Miss Elliott’s rehabilitation.
“The reason I am doing this is because Rachel has been a good friend of mine for years,” he told the Impartial Reporter. “When I heard about what happened I thought somebody had to do something to get a bit of money together.”
Ms Elliott said she had been touched by the outpouring of support. “I can’t believe it. I am totally and utterly overwhelmed by the support,” she said.
“John and I have been best friends for years, so I really appreciate all that he and others are doing.
“I want to walk again, I want to do it for my son, and I’ll get private treatment if I have to.”
On the morning of the crash a man in his 20s was arrested after presenting himself to the Garda and was released without charge that night.
Garda said that a file will be prepared for the Republic’s Director of Public Prosecutions.
The family stated they had no ill-will towards the driver of the car. Speaking earlier this month, Ms Elliott said she was devastated to be told of the death of her two friends while still in hospital.
“I was told by a priest and two school teachers — I had been asking questions and had wanted to ring Shiva. I broke down, I still cry when I go to sleep at night and I wake up crying in the morning,” she recalled.
“I can’t understand why I got another chance and she didn’t. I keep wondering if I spoke to Shiva at the scene of the crash; did I get the chance to say goodbye or did I see her die?”
The first time she saw her son after the accident she said he hugged her and told her he wanted her to get better.
Ms Elliott has said the support of her son, as well as prayer, has helped her to stay strong.
❝ They say my spinal cord is crushed and there is only a one per cent chance of walking again