Smash victim's 'miracle' survival
Thursday October 5, 2006
By Elizabeth Binning
Karen McGregor-Dawson was heading north to spend a couple of weeks with her parents when her path crossed with four young men in a stolen Mercedes.
The result was a high-speed, head-on collision that has left her in hospital with serious injuries that will take up to 18 months to heal.
Close friend Paul Freeman said Ms McGregor-Dawson had been feeling a bit run down and decided to spend time in Paihia with her family.
On Tuesday the inner-city Holiday Shoppe travel consultant packed her bags and climbed into her Toyota RAV4.
As she approached the Dome Valley, about 100km north of Auckland on a straight stretch of State Highway 1, her life was about to change.
Several kilometres ahead of her a patrol car had just passed the Mercedes and was turning around to chase the stolen car.
Before the officer could catch the Mercedes it moved out to overtake a line of traffic and hit Ms McGregor-Dawson's car head on. Witnesses say the impact was so great her RAV4 was shunted backwards and into a car behind before stopping in a mangled heap.
The other car ended up on the other side of the road but the driver was unhurt.
Metres away on the opposite side of the road the Mercedes, which had flown through the air, came to rest on its side. Two of the passengers were dead and a third was injured. The driver escaped unharmed.
Ms McGregor-Dawson was briefly knocked unconscious and when she came to she was trapped in her car, which was leaking petrol. As police tried to comfort the seriously injured woman they feared the RAV4 would catch fire.
"The car was leaking petrol and the motor was wanting to spark back to life," said Sergeant Bede Haughey, one of the first officers at the scene.
"She was badly trapped and we were extremely concerned about how we were going to extract her before firefighters got there with the jaws of life. We figured we'd just pull like hell and hope for the best."
The Fire Service arrived soon after and cut Ms McGregor-Dawson free. She was flown to Auckland City Hospital by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter with serious injuries including a badly broken femur, collarbone and wrist.
Mr Haughey said it was amazing she survived. "You wouldn't think that having arrived at the scene you'd have an alive one inside. The damage that was sustained to that car and the G forces that she would have gone through - it's a miracle she survived it."
Ms McGregor-Dawson, a member of the evangelical Pursuit Church in Three Kings, also believes it was a miracle.
The 39-year-old yesterday told friends in hospital that Jesus was in the car with her at the time of impact.
As she had keyhole surgery to insert a rod into her broken leg, Mr Freeman said her friends gathered and prayed for her.
Yesterday their prayers were answered when they heard she was doing well.
"Her mum and dad and boyfriend are there," said Mr Freeman. "Everyone is in pretty good spirits because she is still with us and we know she is going to make a full recovery."
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