Ava and Adrian

One minute Adrian was driving home, his pregnant wife in the passenger seat and their daughter in her car seat. The next a car was heading towards them on the wrong side of the road.
Their lives were changed forever.

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At just 22 months old, Ava experienced a life-altering car accident that not only left her with severe injuries, but also transformed the course of her dad Adrian’s life. She doesn’t remember the actual accident  because she was too young, but she knows what happened from all the stories she’s been told about her care and the aftermath of the event.

In a heartbreaking turn of events, Adrian, a trainee paramedic at the time, was driving the car when it was struck by the other vehicle, resulting in significant injuries to his wife and devastating but initially invisible injuries to Ava, who suffered an internal decapitation. As the cars swerved to avoid each other, they collided, passenger side to passenger side. Ava’s nine-week pregnant mum, seated in the front passenger seat, bore the impact of the crash. She was trapped in the wreckage and suffered a punctured lung, seatbelt bruising and significant whiplash.

Ava wasn’t breathing and needed immediate attention.

Turning around, Adrian and mum Nikki saw that Ava wasn’t crying but quickly realised that she also wasn’t breathing and needed immediate attention. What Adrian didn’t realise at the time was that the force of the impact had thrown Ava’s head forward, but her body had been held still by her seat harness. This had separated her skull from her shoulders and stretched her spinal cord. The nerves in her neck had also been damaged and she was unconscious.

This injury is generally fatal, and at the time of the accident, only two other people in New Zealand had survived it.

A local farmer called 111 while Adrian performed CPR on Ava who he’d been able to release from her car seat. Despite his training as a paramedic, the moment of performing CPR on his own child was an unimaginably difficult one for Adrian.

The ambulance and volunteer fire service quickly arrived, including Ava’s uncle who was one of the responding firemen. The emergency services knew that  surviving the injury was going to be time-dependent so the rescue helicopter was also sent even though the accident was close to Christchurch.

On the rescue helicopter was our Crew Chief, Rick Knight. He explained

“while it was a quick trip to the hospital,
Ava was very sick and not breathing
so we had to breathe for her on the journey.
The helicopter got her to the emergency doctors
incredibly quickly, which was vital.”

Adrian flew in the helicopter with Ava to the hospital and once stabilised Ava was taken up to Starship for the specialist care that they could provide.

At times like this families desperately need to stay together and, because the doctors weren’t sure that Ava was going to survive her injuries, Nikki was flown by our sister service, the New Zealand Flying Doctor, to be by her side. Ava spent 12 weeks in Starship Hospital. The injury to her brain was less severe than first thought but the doctors decided to fuse her neck in a seven-hour operation that needed three specialities in the operating theatre. She spent the first three months in a head halo to keep her neck stable and has since had 12 operations on her hips, legs and ankles to alleviate the ongoing issues caused by the damage to her spine.

But while the accident has had a ripple effect on the whole family,
changing their lives completely, it hasn’t held Ava back at all.

With unwavering support from her family, particularly her dad Adrian, mum Nikki and grandparents Brian and Margarette, she has embraced life to the fullest. From skiing and ice skating to rock climbing, swimming, and more, Ava’s determination shines through. She’s also pursuing her dreams academically, studying graphic design at college after attending mainstream schooling.

Your support of the service means we are able to increase the training our crew has and supply them with extra equipment which helps to save the lives of our patients.