- Chelsea was walking out of a supermarket with her four children when she froze in her steps.
- When she turned around, a car was charging at Chelsea and her four-year-old daughter Pippa at high speed.
- In the process of trying to save Pippa’s life, Chelsea was pinned to the wall with her left leg completely crushed under the car.
Here Chelsea Ferguson, 29, Gold Coast, Qld tells her own story in her own words.
Grabbing some nappies from the shelf, I headed to the checkout.
That should cover us for a while, I thought.
It was November 2022, and with my kids, Tahlia, then seven, Tori, six, Pippa, four, and Archie, three, I was visiting my family in Westport, New Zealand, ahead of my sister, Claire, then 23, giving birth.
As we headed out of the New World supermarket, my eldest two raced ahead towards our car, while my youngest dawdled behind.
‘Come on!’ I ushered.
Suddenly, the sound of an engine revving behind me made me freeze.
Spinning around, I saw a red SUV charging towards Pippa and me in the car park.
My mother’s instinct kicking in, I shoved Pippa out of the way, as the car ploughed into me, pinning me against the wall, side on.
My left leg was edged in the cracked front bumper. But in shock, I couldn’t feel any pain.
The driver, a man in his 80s, had accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake.
Concerned shoppers rushed to my aid, but the ringing in my ears drowned out their voices.
Thankfully, when it subsided, kind strangers assured me that Tahlia, Tori and Archie were unharmed.
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But poor Pippa had been knocked unconscious when she hit her head on a pole.
‘Help is on the way,’ someone said, explaining they’d called emergency services.
‘Please don’t leave me,’ I begged one woman, convinced that I was going to die.
‘The car might catch on fire,’ I heard bystanders mutter, as they worked together to pull me out by the shoulders.
Then, laying me on the ground, they used the nappies I’d bought to stem the bleeding on my leg.
In disbelief, I didn’t register my injury. All I could think about was Pippa.
READ MORE: I Was Crushed By A Car
A few minutes later I heard sirens, as emergency services rushed to the scene.
Tahlia was able to tell a shop owner where my family lived, and after they were called, my stepmum, Toni, and my sisters Claire, who was 40 weeks pregnant, and Jamie, 20, rushed to me.
Toni and Claire took the kids home, while Jamie stayed with Pippa and me as we were airlifted to Nelson hospital.
‘Everything is going to be okay,’ Jamie said, holding my hand, while trying to keep Pippa awake as she faded in and out of consciousness.
When we arrived, doctors rushed Pippa to emergency while I was taken for an X-ray. It showed I had a fractured femur, broken shin, and my entire left leg, from my thigh to my shin, had been degloved, tearing away the arteries and lymph nodes.
With no blood flow to my foot for six hours, surgeons raced to save it – taking an artery from my groin to replace the main one in my leg that’d been severed. Then, they took a graft from my right calf to patch the wound.
When I woke, my hubby, Matthew, 30, was by my side. He’d flown from the Gold Coast. ‘I got here as quickly as I could,’ he said, tears in his eyes.
By now the shock had worn off and I was in agony. But my main concern was still Pippa, who’d suffered a concussion, and broken her right arm and left collarbone in the fall.
When she visited me, my heart broke seeing her arm in a sling.
‘I’m so glad you’re okay,’ I said, cuddling her.
‘Thank you for saving me, Mummy,’ she replied.
That night I was airlifted to Christchurch Hospital where they were better equipped to treat my extensive injuries.
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Over the next eight weeks, I underwent 11 surgeries to try and save my leg.
The week before Christmas, I was able to leave, after doctors restored some movement in my leg using a metal rod. I was ecstatic to be celebrating with my family, including Claire’s new daughter, Amara, who was born two weeks after my accident.
In March 2023, the 87-year-old driver appeared in Westport District Court after pleading guilty to two charges of operating a vehicle carelessly and injuring me and Pippa.
‘You made a terrible error with drastic consequences,’ Judge Noel Walsh told the driver, before ordering him to pay reparations of $15,000. He was also disqualified from driving for six months and was required to sit a driving test before being allowed to drive again.
For six months, we remained in New Zealand, unable to fly back to the Gold Coast due to my injuries. When we finally returned home in June 2024, I began physiotherapy, re-learning how to walk.
Taking my first, shaky steps, I was proud of how far I’d come, until a pain shot through my leg that persisted for weeks.
Back in surgery, doctors removed the metal in my leg, but the pain and swelling worsened.
‘Please cut it off,’ I begged doctors, desperate to have my life back without pain.
When they agreed, I was so relieved.
‘The doctors are going to take away Mummy’s bad leg and give me a robot leg instead,’ I told my kids.
In May this year, I was admitted to Gold Coast University Hospital where surgeons amputated my leg above the knee.
That night, I had a proper rest for the first time in three years.
Returning home in a wheelchair five days later, I felt like a new person.
My kids were overjoyed.
Eight weeks later, I received my prosthetic, learning how to walk for the second time.
‘You’re a superhero,’ Tahlia, now 11, Tori, nine, Pippa, seven, and Archie, five, cheered.
Five months on, I’m still undergoing rehab and therapy to deal with the trauma of what happened.
I don’t hold any grudge against the driver – it was just a terrible accident.
But I strongly urge everyone to think twice before getting behind the wheel of a car if you’re not confident.
One simple mistake could change, or even end, a family’s life forever.
I’m so grateful for every moment I get with mine.
