My name is Shona, I am 30 years old and 5 years ago I had a car accident and am now a bilateral amputee.  My left leg is above knee high and my right leg is below knee.  I am now in a wheelchair.

I was recently home from living in a Ski Resort in France to be with my Grandpa who was very ill and would not last with us much longer.   I came home to be with my family and to say my goodbyes to him in person.  I was able to spend 2 weeks with him before he passed and we buried him on a Tuesday.  The following Friday night I was in town with a friend and I had offered to pick up another friend and drive her home off the bus from Brisbane.  It was around 10:30pm when I dropped her home and not long up the road from their place I came up through the Gully and lost the back end of Mum & Dad's Pajero in some loose gravel.  I swerved and tried to correct the car but over corrected and subsequently the car rolled about 4-5 times (I think) into a paddock.

Once the car stopped I could clearly see that my legs were pinned until the car which was on its side with the underbelly facing the road.  I started to panic, cry, scream, I flashed the lights, I hung on the horn but all of the properties in the area were well out of hearing or seeing distance.  The battery on the car went dead and then it was just me there all alone stuck under this car.

I tried to pull myself free, I tried to move my body to get the motion going to roll the car, I tried everything.  I looked for my phone but it had obviously flown out the window.

I was really in a panic by this stage but deep down knew that I wouldn't be found at least til the morning.  So many things went through my head that night including wanting to end my life right there and then because of what I thought might or might not happen.  I didn't know if my legs were bleeding, I didn't know if I had internal injuries but eventually I tried to slow my breathing and heart rate down knowing that if I didn't settle down, there is no way at all I would make it through the night.  I closed my eyes and really tried to breathe deeply and settle my body down.  There was nothing I could do other than to hope that I made it through the night and be found.

I remember the sun starting to come up and then I started to get upset again.  I heard one car go past me and didn't stop.  Then there was a second car went past and didn't stop.  Then not long after that a car pulled up and 2 men got out and ran over hearing my screams for help.

I told them to call 000 and tell them they will need a chopper because I think my legs are broken and my pelvis and that I had been there since 10:30pm that previous night.  I then asked them to call my Mum & Dad and gave them the number and then asked them to call the family I had left that night because I knew Mum & Dad would need someone there for them.

That was when everyone started to arrive to get me out.  I was so scared and just wanted to get out of there.  I remember the Ambos talking to me, I remember I could see Mum & Dad up behind me.  I remember my Doctor being beside me and deep down I knew that IF I did make it out of there alive, I would surely lose my legs.

When I woke up the first thing I remember is my Dad sitting beside my bed and I remember I reached out for his hand.  That was 3 weeks later.  I couldn't talk when I woke up because I had a Tracheotomy to help me breathe.  I was still very dopey from all the drugs they had me on but I was told not long after I had woken that I had lost my legs.

That night I wouldn't settle and during the middle of the night they called my parents to come in and be with me because I obviously hadn't taken the news well.  They gave me sleeping tablets and Mum stayed with me and slept in the chair but I still wouldn't go to sleep.

I had dialysis while I was in ICU and then I was moved to the burns ward about a week after coming out of the induced coma.  The burns surgeons were the ones who did all the operations to take my legs and keep me alive.  During that next 5 weeks Mum was with me every day!!  I had lots of visitors and it was then time to build my strength with a view to getting out of Hospital and heading to Rehabilitation.

I had Physios, Psychologists, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists, a Pain Management Team, Doctors, Nurses and Operational staff members all coming in and out of my room and my life everyday for that 5 weeks.  They were all there in their own capacities to help me recover and eventually be strong enough to leave hospital.  Thank you everyone who was part of that!!!

I then headed to Rehab in a hospital closer to home and this is where the full-on Physio was going to happen and ultimately my road home.  I had physio twice a day for 3 weeks.  I really struggled being in Rehab and found I was crying myself to sleep nearly every night.  I really wanted to get out of there and be home with my family and friends.

Then the day came that I was able to go home!!

What has followed since my accident hasn't been easy.  I went back to work, I have lived at home and moved out of home, I have had relationships but am not currently in one.  I have played wheelchair basketball and am now giving wheelchair tennis a go.  I now live in a Unit on my own and have just recently completed a Certiciate IV in Disability Work with the hope of having my own business in the near future as a Disability Consultant.  I currently still work and have a great family and friends who still to this day support me in everything I do!!  Thank you to all of you!!