Road crash victim says son boosts her recovery
‘I’ll never be able to do a lot of things’ ‘An inspirational young woman’
A YOUNG mother has thanked her son for the ‘amazing strength’ he has given her as she recovers from a horror car smash which has put her life on hold.
Milena Nowak, 22, is fighting to save her left leg in Cork University Hospital from the single-car crash on the N25 in which driver Dean O’Neill, a father-ofthree, was killed.
Born in Poland, the Waterford IT student is grappling with the implications of the life-changing incident which happened shortly before dawn on April 20 on the Wexford-New Ross road.
The worst of the injuries were to her right wrist and left leg, including the knee and ankle, which was ripped from its socket. Her foot was shattered like glass and she underwent a ten-hour operation.
She was told by an orthopaedic surgeon, Professor James Harty, that he’d never seen a leg in such a condition.
‘My leg is deformed now, it’s a different leg,’ she told RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline programme yesterday.
Ms Nowak’s latest battle is to fight off an infection which has increased the risk of amputation.
‘The doctor said it’s very serious and can’t say what’s going to happen,’ she said.
After the crash, Ms Nowak was taken to University Hospital Waterford and then transferred to Cork University Hospital for further treatment, where she heard of the loss of her friend.
She acknowledged she needed space to come to terms with what had happened.
‘I was never in hospital before. It was hard being away from my family, hard for myself, mentally and physically,’ she said.
‘The first few weeks I was traumatised. I had to deal with my own emotions and feelings. It was good I didn’t have many visitors. If people came in, I wouldn’t have been able to cope with it.
Ms Nowak understood the seriousness of her condition when her dressings were taken off and for the first time she could see the skin graft, and the extent of the injuries she suffered. She has a rod in her left leg, which is in a ‘fixator’, and she faces years of physiotherapy. She said: ‘Memories came back, memories I won’t forget. I realised how damaged my leg was, I thought I’d have a little scar.
‘After surgery I didn’t get out of bed for three weeks, then they got me on to a wheelchair. The pain was unreal in my legs and my wrists. My breathing was sore but the medication helped me a lot. It’s reduced now, mostly in my leg. I’m coping.
‘I’ll never be able to do a lot of things again, but I’ll keep on fighting for the best mobility I can get. I just want to get back on my feet.’
After four weeks, her mother Iwona was permitted to see her, without contact.
‘She was allowed in for ten minutes with fresh clothes. It was heartbreaking and amazing, we basically cried with happiness. After she left, it broke my heart,’ explained Ms Nowak.
The subsequent visits of her five-year-old son Tyler have been a huge help in her mental fight.
‘I’m a single mother, it’s always me and him. After five weeks I said to the social worker, “I need to see my son. I don’t see any hope”,’ she recalled.
‘I got to see him for an hour, the most amazing hour in my life. [It] felt like he was born again. To see happiness in his eyes, I got so much strength from him.’
As the pandemic begins to taper off here, Ms Nowak now sees her son every eight days.
Of the accident, Ms Nowak revealed she has memories of the kindness of a passer-by who sat with her until the emergency services arrived.
‘A lady called Tina came over to help me. I got out of the car and didn’t think it was that serious. It was like, “Get my car keys and get my phone, I’ve an assignment due in the morning.”’ She keeps texting me. Thank you, Tina,’ she added.
Ms Nowak will have to adapt her New Ross home for wheelchair access when she is well enough to leave hospital.
Her uncle, Paul Kelly, helped organise a ‘MilenaDay’ last Saturday in which nine DJs played requests for nine hours on the quays at New Ross, which raised €4,000 as part of a €50,000 GoFundMe target.
‘Milena’s an inspirational young woman,’ he said.