At 1100 on 11^th November 2000, Faye Mager was driving to Otter Nurseries to buy a present for her mother’s birthday. Little did she know that her parents, coincidentally, were also at Otter Nurseries that morning.

Just as Faye was indicating to turn into the Nursery car park, a ‘boy racer’ came out of nowhere and smashed into Faye’s car. Whilst the driver from the car that had hit her was unhurt, drivers from other cars stopped to help Faye. As one was holding her and asking her name, Faye’s eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness. The Air Ambulance was called to assist.

Discovering her home address, police rushed to inform Faye’s parents. Meanwhile, customers in the store became aware of the accident. Her mum and dad had the shock of their lives when they reached home and realised that it was their daughter who had been hurt.

Faye was flown to RD&E with internal bleeding, a punctured and collapsed lung and a head injury.

Many years later, and physically recovered except for ongoing neck pain from the whiplash, Faye realised that she hadn’t ever dealt with the anger that she had felt after the accident. “I needed counselling,” she explained. “My injuries may have healed, but I was still angry.  Fortunately, the counselling really helped. Now, I’m happily married with two young children and I’m just so grateful to everyone who helped me on that day.”

For many of our patients the trauma of an incident can make a big impact. Our patient liaison officer, Debbie Gregory is on-hand to help direct former patients to the right sources of support when it is needed.