Agnes’s hit-andrun driver found
Pennsylvania police have tracked down the hit-andrun driver who left Oban granny Agnes MacKechnie for dead.
Mrs MacKechnie was two days into a dream holiday when she was hit by a pick-up truck and thrown 25 feet into the air.
One year after the incident, near a shopping mall in Bethlehem, left her with horrific injuries, the 55-year-old has revealed police wanted her to fly back to the States to help with their investigation but she refused because she ‘still can’t remember a thing’.
‘There’s no point me going back. I still can’t remember a thing. I wouldn’t be able to tell them anything but I’d like to know what was in the driver’s head when he hit me then reversed back to have a look before he high-tailed off,’ said Mrs MacKechnie, who suffered fractured bones, broken ribs and a tear in her liver, pancreas and heart.
Surgeons in Glasgow still have a series of major operations planned to fix ‘devastating’ knee and ankle injuries that stop her from walking. A mobility scooter bought with well-wishers’ donations has been a lifeline to the granny-of-eight, who will never walk unassisted again. ‘The best I can hope for, even if the operations work, is to walk with sticks,’ she said.
‘This time last year we were so excited about going on holiday. Our bags were packed. My brother James, who lives out there, had so much planned for us – including New York and Niagara Falls – but we didn’t get to see any of it. Two days into the holiday and I was left for dead. We’d just picked up our costumes for Hallowe’en when it happened.
‘My liver is recovering and so is my heart, I had a tear in the aorta and have had to have a stent put in. The splints are off my wrists but I still wake up in pain that’ll probably be forever now. Unfortunately, the injuries to the ligaments in my knees were devastating. My kneecap was shattered. The plate in my right leg is healing. There are still more operations. I’ll probably need a plate in my other ankle. It’s not looking great.
‘I can get up the town a wee bit thanks to the scooter bought with donations, which has been a lifeline. The kindness I was shown and am still shown with hugs and kisses when folk see me has helped with my recovery.
‘It’s restored my faith in humanity, as there are still good people out there.
‘I’ve not had much information from the police but they called to say they had him and would I go over but that would be too much. He should be taken off the road for good. I’d hate to see anyone else get hurt. If I wasn’t Scottish, I would not have survived this. The doctors and nurses could not believe I was still alive. It’s my Scottish grit that saved me.’
Husband David has also revealed how he kept a heart attack secret while his wife of 36 years lay critically ill in her US hospital bed.
Mr MacKechnie, who recently had a triple heart bypass, said he had ‘kept quiet’ about how ill he was and self-medicated on aspirin because ‘there was already too much to worry about Agnes’. He added: ‘I hadn’t slept for days. I knew I’d had a heart attack but just kept it quiet and took aspirin.’
It was only months later when he went to his GP back home with a cough that follow-up tests picked up the heart attack he had kept hush. Mrs MacKechnie said: ‘I hate to think what would’ve happened if David had died. They would’ve had to get a double box to send us both back in.’