Kind strangers recognised
A grateful mum is thanking bystanders who rushed to her son’s aid when he was struck by a cyclist, leaving him with serious injuries.
Lauren, from Wellington, took her two young children to Memorial Park in Palmerston North on the way back home from a trip to Napier. While he was playing, Lauren’s 7-year-old son Amotai was hit by a teenage cyclist.
The crash broke Amotai’s ankle and snapped his shin bone ‘‘clean in half’’. He had surgery in Palmerston North Hospital and spent three days there before returning home to Wellington.
The experience left Lauren shaken.
‘‘The adrenaline carries you through . . . then you’re just in shock. It’s still hard to think about
. . . It was horrible,’’ she said.
On Facebook, Lauren, who does not want her last name used, thanked strangers for their kindness.
Lauren said writing her thoughts down was a way to ‘‘reframe’’ what had happened, and to try to take some positives out of the incident.
‘‘I wrote the post in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep . . . It was quite cathartic.’’
She said the help she received from people overwhelmed her, from the instant after the crash to the care her son received at Palmerston North Hospital.
In her post, she wrote how impressed she was with the paramedics who put ‘‘both me and Amotai at ease with their warmth and professionalism’’.
Lauren thanked the person who went to look for her young daughter when she was scared off by the arrival of the ambulance, while another lent her their ipad at the hospital to keep her entertained.
She said two women gave her their phone numbers in case she needed anything, as they knew she was from out of town.
‘‘Thank you, random people. Maybe we still do all look out for each other as a society after all.’’
The young cyclist and his family were deeply upset by what had happened and Lauren knew the incident was ‘‘just bad timing’’.
‘‘He [the cyclist] showed such remorse through his bewildered tears it was impossible not to forgive him,’’ she wrote.
Amotai will have to use a wheelchair until his full leg cast comes off.
Lauren said he was doing halfdays at school and had been playing with lots of Lego when he was at home.
The stop in Palmerston North was not initially part of Lauren’s plans, as she was going to drive through Wairarapa to get to Wellington.
‘‘Amotai said to me he wished we had driven through Masterton.’’
‘‘Thank you, random people. Maybe we still do all look out for each other as a society after all.’’ Lauren, thankful mum