Evelyn Satterly was no stranger to road trauma.
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She had been an operational member of the State Emergency Service for many years and a former nurse.
“I would ride to work knowing I was going to be looking after people that weren’t even hurt yet,” she said of her time as a nurse.
“Things happen to people all the time and you just hope they don’t happen to you.”
On Saturday, December 6, 2014, the then 61-year-old became the patient being treated on the side of the road by paramedics, instead of the first responder arriving to the crash scene.
“I came to on the road with a fella holding an umbrella over me and he said, ‘You’ve got good shade haven’t you?’. That’s when I realised I’d been hit.”
The Fryerstown resident had been riding her motorcycle home from the Bendigo Motorcycle Toy Run when she was knocked from her bike by a car on the Midland Highway at Barkers Creek, at the Blackjack Road intersection.
Ms Satterly was thrown from her bike on the then 100km/h stretch of road.
“I spoke to the ambo and that umbrella didn’t come out until after 20 minutes after the accident so that was the first memory.”
She was taken by road ambulance to Bendigo hospital and then flown to The Alfred.
Kelly Pratt, Ms Satterly’s daughter and fellow SES volunteer, was also on her way home from the toy run when she got the SES page.
“I had a gut feeling that I knew she was going through the area at the time and that it was going to be her,” she said.
Ms Pratt and her husband were still in Bendigo at the time of the SES notification and had to ride home in the same direction.
“I thought the whole way, and then when I actually saw her bike, it was confirmed, yes, that it was actually my mum.
“I was very used to going to crash scenes – but very different when it’s your own family member that’s the one that’s had the crash.”
Ms Satterly spent four days in the intensive care unit followed by four weeks at The Alfred.
“As well as multiple leg, ankle and foot fractures resulting in my leg being eight centimetres shorter above the knee and a forefoot amputation, I had ruptured knee ligaments, minor head injuries and still have a ruptured thumb ligament,” Ms Satterly said.
“I have also had four skin grafts, two bone grafts, and a flap over the end of my foot.”
“It is only thanks to the skill of the surgeons that I still have most of my leg.”
So far, Ms Satterly has had 21 operations, with more to come.
She spent more than three months in rehabilitation at the Epworth in Melbourne and is still a regular outpatient there, two days a week.
“Because of my nursing background, I was intrigued with my injuries and the treatment – I was very impressed with the treatment these days.
“You know these things happen all the time but previously I was seriously thankful every time I got home safely.
“This time I was just thankful to be alive.”
The 63-year-old now splits her time between her father’s house in Thomastown and her daughter Kelly’s in Castlemine.
She said that has been one of the biggest impacts of the crash – losing her independence.
“I was extremely independent,” she said.
“Even though I can get around on crutches now but Kelly is still driving me most places.”
Ms Satterly led an active life before the crash, not only as an operational SES member, but also playing netball, camping and walking.
“I’d just walk for miles,” she said. “Now when you see someone kneel, see someone squat – I can dissolve into tears.
“You just sort of think it’s all those little things that you suddenly realise you can’t do.
“You want to get something from under a bench and you just physically can’t do that now.”
To make matters worse, during Ms Satterly’s rehabilitation, rats made their way into her bungalow on her Fryerstown’s property.
“Because I wasn’t in the bungalow and I had my windows open they just chewed through the fly wire.
“They’ve knocked things down, they’ve chewed paper, they’ve chewed boxes, they’ve chewed clothes.”
Ms Satterly was renovating her 1860s miners cottage and using the bungalow as storage when the crash happened.
After encouragement from her father, she contacted Slater and Gordon to pursue a TAC claim, which she won.
The compensation has been used to help Ms Satterly buy the property next door, which she is moving into in the coming weeks.
“Any other accident you get better and get on with life, whereas I’ll only ever get to a certain stage of recovery from this.”
Ms Satterly is hopeful of one day being able to return to work, having only just completed a course in aged care when the crash happened.
“I’d only just finished that course and I’d started on a small business one and had done about two sessions of that when I had the accident.”
She’s hopeful of being able to ride again, as motorcycling has always been a big part of her life.
“I’ve been riding since I was 18, it’s something that I’ve always loved doing.”
At present Ms Satterly is unable to support herself on her inured leg so has only been able to ride in her dad’s sidecar or on the back of another bike.
“The limitations it’s put on me – even though it could be far worse – I’m glad I’m alive.”
With 57 lives lost on Victorian roads so far this year, Ms Satterly’s message to road users it that a moment’s inattention is all it takes.
“You don’t have to be on the phone or drunk or be tired, if you’re not paying attention, it can have serious consequences,” she said.
“Pay attention all the time, be aware that you’re in control of a vehicle that can cause a lot of damage not only to someone else, but also to yourself.”