Couple adapt to life after horror crash
ADJUSTING: Maria and Rodney Lakay prepare supper in their kitchen in Ravensmead, Cape Town A PHOTOGRAPH in their home in Ravensmead, Cape Town, shows Maria and Rodney Lakay on holiday in Thailand, one of their favourite destinations.
The couple had planned to go back there with their sons, Justin, 23, and Damian, 20, this year. But their lives changed dramatically when a car crash severed their legs.
A Lamborghini taking part in the Rogue Rally lost control during a time trial on Old Cape Road at Simola Hill near Knysna in September last year. It ploughed into a stationary Toyota Prado with such force that the secondary collision with the Lakays’ Mercedes Vito instantly severed both Maria and Rodney’s legs below the knee.
Last month the couple returned to the scene in Knysna for the first time, attempting to reconstruct how the crash happened.
Despite the slow pace of the police investigation, the Lakays, who are devout Christians, hold only love and forgiveness towards the driver. The car is owned by Louis Oelofse, a Johannesburg doctor, but it has not been established if he was the driver at the time.
“I drove myself up the road as I had done on September 25. I drove past the same gate. Made the same U-turn and parked my car exactly where I had parked on that day,” said Rodney.
His automatic Mercedes sedan has been modified to enable him to drive.
He then got into his wheelchair and moved to where the shrubbery and embankment dropped away.
“I looked down and saw the debris from the accident still scattered and I felt fine. For me it was like looking back and seeing what was,” he said.
Rodney recalled looking through his camera lens on the day and seeing the Lamborghini sliding broadside through the corner.
“I remember that I had to get out of the way of the Lamborghini and warn my wife. I don’t know if I moved past the Prado. The last thing I remember was a gentle pressure on my left shoulder.”
Rodney recalls being on a stretcher and seeing the vivid colours of the uniforms of paramedics, and hearing two-way radios.
“I remember grabbing a medic and telling him that my legs were on fire. I screamed: ‘Can’t you see that my legs are burning?!’ I begged him to put something under my legs to relieve the pain.
“That was the last thing I remember until I woke up three days later, lying in ICU asking for my wife. The curtains were pulled back and I saw Maria was alive.”
Maria’s memories of that day started with the tranquility of the Knysna estuary. “Little did I know that my life as a mother, wife, churchgoer and active person would change so radically. I am still the same person — I am just a lot slower,” she said.
The Lakays had arrived early that day for a good vantage point. Maria had wanted to see a Lamborghini as she had never seen one before — “not that I ever want to see one again in my life”, she said.
The Lakays have adapted their double-storey home with a chair-lift along the staircase, as well as extra decks to accommodate their handicap, but this came at a price, she said this week.
“The first thing that we changed was the steps leading up to the house. The chair-lift to the upper level cost R40 000. There was no planning for this; we had to use our savings.”
Before they installed the lift, their children had to carry them up the stairs.
The couple said that, by using their savings and with the help of donations from strangers, they had been able to make some changes to the home to accommodate their disability.
Their lawyer, Jurie Terblanche, has confirmed that the Lakays have lodged a claim with the Road Accident Fund. The case, though, has not progressed due to delays in the police investigation.
Police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie said the investigation into the crash was at an advanced stage.
I am still the same person — I am just a lot slower