Calum needs assistance after his car crash

Calum and his flatmate Kevin were severely injured in a car crash on 19 June. Calum is now out of hospital and on a long road to recovery. While ACC will cover some costs there are many additional expenses and things that aren't covered or compensated. The initial campaign focussed on a La-Z-Boy lift chair, and one has been acquired, but there will be other expenses too. Calum has been very generous and supportive of so many in the community for many years - now is the time for us to support him.

Here is an interview that Stuff has done with Calum: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125683148/wellington-mans-vivid-recollection-of-crash-caused-by-drink-driver-which-left-him-with-serious-injuries

PS - we are very appreciative of all the donations received so far. However, can you please ensure that on the https://my.givealittle.co.nz/preferences page you have the "Share my details with the page owner" box ticked, otherwise we have no idea who you are and we can't thank you privately. You can still choose to make the donation appear to be made by a "Private donor"

Calum's Facebook post: 4 July

Some of you already know, but most of you don't, and may be wondering why I've been a bit quiet lately.

In the early morning of 19 June I was driving back from visiting a friend in Te Horo Beach and having a lovely firebath. My flatmate Kevin was the passenger. At about 12:15am, on the Kapiti expressway, just past the intersection at QE2 Park in the 80kmph zone, I said to Kevin "The lights on the top of the cab of that truck look like a plane coming in to land."

Then I noticed something that truly scared me. Car lights, overtaking the truck, coming str8 at me. I slammed on the brakes immediately and thought "This is going to be fatal" as the lights closed in. There was nowhere to go on the left shoulder. I steered slightly to the left so the impact would be all on my side, giving Kevin a better chance of survival. There was no need for both of us to die, and at 24, with 2 children, he has more to live for than I do.

I remember the moment of impact with the horrible crunch of metal as the cars hit. The next thing I remember was the car being stationary and a couple of young women tapping on my window "Are you okay? Are you alright?" "It hurts" I replied. Except I couldn't breathe. Lift head up, push down to raise shoulders up I could breathe, but barely, "Is this how it ends?" I thought. It hurt, severely hurt to take a breath, it was much easier to breathe out. However, struggling to breathe, I undid my seatbelt. Kevin was already struggling, "get out, gotta get out, get out before it catches fire".

I remember fumbling with the handle: still locked. I banged on the window trying to break it. Nope. Although the engine was off, with the car still in gear as it turned off the car didn't automatically unlock. I struggled to lean forward enough to unlock the door. Got it. Opened it, struggled to get out.

The pain in my chest and abdomen seared through me like electric shocks. I couldn't breathe again, head up, push down on the cheese cutter fence on the side of the northbound lane. Relief, I could breathe. Why was my car facing north? Apparently we'd spun into the northbound lane after impact - I didn't remember that or the airbag deploying. I only remember the impact then being still and the initial silence.

I asked one of the women who helped us to get my phone from the car, which she kindly did after her friends helped Kevin climb over my seat to get out. She assured me that the ambulance, police and fire were on their way. I thanked her, but I don't think it sounded as grateful as I was. She helped to calm me enough so I could breathe regularly, while her friends helped Kevin. I asked her to take a photo of the front of the car, which she did.

The police arrived, checked I was okay, then went off to talk to the other driver and had him sit down some distance from me.

In the ambulance, Wellington Free, I was given fentanyl, and assessed as C1 (because of my inability to breathe) while Kevin was assessed as C2. I later found out the guy who hit us was assessed as C4. The ride to hospital was uneventful, but extremely painful. The ambulance officer with me was kind, reassuring, and did everything possible to keep me comfortable. Thank you.

Lots of pain being transferred from the stretcher to the bed in ED, more drugs, still unable to breathe properly, pain with every breath. X-rays in ED then of for a CT scan, then more x-rays in radiology. Back to ED. On oxygen throughout, SpO2 about 80-85, they cleaned the glass from the back of my right hand (windscreen had shattered on impact and some of it was embedded in my right hand), immobilised my left wrist in a splint (left ulnar styloid crack) and made me comfortable (good drugs) between various tests and scans.

A police officer came and took an evidential blood test from me. The police officer said I was fine but the other driver had failed his.

Result of the accident (as shown on test results given on Manage My Health):

* Crack in left ulnar styloid;

* Suspected crack in right scafoid bone by the wrist);

* Large seatbelt injury right shoulder to left hip, left hip to right hip (but without the seatbelt I *would* have been dead);

* Left knee laceration and soft tissue swelling;

* Left big toe fractured at the tip;

* Lacerations on back of right hand due to glass injury (it was 10 days before I could see no more glass coming out of my hand):

* Hiatus hernia;

* Spigelian hernia, right upper quadrant;

* Mesenteric haematoma (bruising throughout the bowels);

* Bilateral atelectasis but no collapse of the lungs;

* Aneurism in the Common Iliac Artery up to 17mm in diameter;

* Hospital acquired pneumonia (because of difficulty breathing and the phlegm building up in the lungs and getting infected);

* Several pulmonary emboli on the pulmonary artery and right lung.

This could so easily have been fatal, either that night (if the right common iliac artery had burst instead of "just" had an aneurysm) or later that week (pulmonary embolism).

Don't drink and drive. You could kill someone.