Mum says tanker accident wrecked her life

Jul 31 2008 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

A LANARKSHIRE mum told this week how her life had been wrecked by a road accident in which she suffered brain damage.

Louise Nelson was speaking seven months after a milk tanker hit her Skoda as she was travelling home from work.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court last month, the driver of the lorry walked free after admitting a careless driving charge.

Louise, however, stressed she did not bear any ill feeling towards James Stewart of Kirkmuirhill who was fined £500 and had eight penalty points added to his licence.

The court was told that a contributory factor in the smash, which occurred on the A72 near Garrion Bridge on December 2, may have been a missing diesel cap which allowed fuel to spill on to the road and caused the tanker to skid.

Louise, who lives with her partner Chris Odger (25) and two-year-old son Connor, told how her life had been transformed since the accident.

“Things I took for granted before like walking, talking and writing have become a lot more difficult,” she said.

“I get really frustrated when I can’t do things I could once do easily. It is difficult to come to terms with sometimes.”

The crash also left Louise with liver and lung damage and she spent three weeks in a coma. For a month or so afterwards, she had to be fed by drip.

The 28-year-old still experiences weakness in the right side of her body and she is unsure when she will be fit enough to return to her job with the Aberlour Child Care Trust charity.

She also has to take painkillers four times a day and is on anti-depressants.

Louise said missing her son growing up while she was in hospital was especially difficult to cope with.

“I find myself getting upset when I think of the time I’ll never get back with Connor,” she said.. “I missed his second Christmas – and his first words and first steps – while I was in hospital.”

She left Wishaw General Hospital’s critical care unit in February and was transferred to Murdostoun Castle’s brain injury unit, from which she was discharged last month.

Physiotherapy and writing and speaking exercises will help her on the road to recovery.

Her mum Catherine (47) explained: “It will be at least two years before we will know if things are going to improve. That’s what the doctors tell us.

“It has been a terrible experience for the whole family. For a time, back in January, we weren’t sure if Louise was going to pull through or not.

“For weeks, she couldn’t do anything at all. She couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t breathe and was on a life support machine. It was heartbreaking to watch.

“Louise has got some way to go yet but the doctors are very happy about the progress she has made so far.”

Louise, who lives in Pather, Wishaw, recognised that the tanker driver had been genuinely upset about the incident.

She added: “From what was said in court, he is someone who has been troubled by the accident. But he must have travelled on that road many times.

“ He should have known how to take the corner properly – and to check that the petrol cap was in place.”