Glad to be here

By Kath Gannaway
CHRISTMAS will be special this year for Toolangi couple Peter and Sally Van Der Ven.
Their 18-year-old son, Dale escaped, miraculously, from a horror crash just minutes from their home on 19 November.
The utility he was driving ran off the road, hit a tree and overturned crushing the cabin.
It had been a blisteringly hot day. Dale, an apprentice carpenter had left for work at 5am and put in a solid day’s work.
He recalls being drowsy but doesn’t remember the actual crash.
“This is a reminder for everyone coming up to Christmas that things can happen so easily,” said Peter who is still struggling with the ‘what if’.
“Just a lax second … that’s all it takes,” he says looking across at Dale sitting in a wheelchair across the room.
For those first on the scene it seems unbelievable that the young driver has escaped with ‘just’ injuries to both feet.
“I’ve always been good at rationalising things. You think you can handle anything but when we got there and saw Dale stuck in the crushed cabin, upside down, it’s very hard to get that image out of your mind,” Peter said.
The incident has also reinforced for the Van Der Ven’s just how lucky they are to live in such a supportive, close-knit community.
Among the first to arrive were Christie Demby, a trauma nurse at Maroondah Hospital, and Dale’s auntie and uncle Heather and Mick Van Der Ven, local CFA members.
Heather said they said what they say every time they are called to a local accident. They hope it’s not a member of the family, or someone they know.
“It’s the thing you dread, to turn up and find something like that,” said Heather who stayed with Dale, comforting him as SES members from Kinglake and Healesville worked with the jaws of life to get him out of the vehicle. Heather crawled under the tray of the truck and comforted Dale through the broken back window of the cabin while another CFA volunteer Peter McMahon crawled in through a side window to reassure him.
“I just kept talking to keep him conscious and aware and to keep him calm,” Heather said.
While Heather says it was something anybody would have done, there is no doubt in Sally and Peter’s mind that their efforts were amazing.
“You can’t underestimate what that means,” Sally said. “The vehicle hadn’t even been stabilised at that stage and the heat was unbearable.
“For Dale to have all these people around him, neighbours, relatives and friends, made a huge difference to us and to him.”
Dale has a message, too, for his peers.
“Being in this wheelchair has made me realise just what life could have been like.
“I will be out of this but I’ve seen people in the past few weeks who will never get out of their wheelchairs. I know I’m so lucky.”
Dale says he has always been a responsible driver, fully aware of the dangers of drinking and driving, and of speeding.
“I think most young people are aware of those things but there are other things and you need to be aware of just how easily something like this can happen,” he said.
“It struck me a couple of days after that no-one else was in the car.
“It’s the thing that worries me most. If I had had someone in the car … and it was my fault …”
It’s a trap most people fall in to, according to Heather, but one which can have fatal consequences.
“Most of us wouldn’t stop for anything when we’re so close to home. It’s human nature. But when you’re drowsy the only remedy is sleep.
“Stop and have that cat nap, even if you’re just a couple of kilometres from home.”