Tauranga crash victim's huge thanks to Tauranga Hospital nursing staff

Lance Carter was brought to tears yesterday as he handed over flowers and chocolate cake to some of the Tauranga Hospital nursing staff who helped care for him and his dying partner.

Mr Carter's partner Leigh Rhodes and their best friend Kenny McCrae were hit by a car driven by Nicole Reynolds as they changed a flat tyre on July 29 last year.

Ms Rhodes had parked her SUV on the left side of SH 29A, and she was waving a white spare wheel cover in the air to alert other motorists to the hazard.

Reynolds struck Ms Rhodes, who was thrown into the air and landed 30m away.

The vehicle then smashed into Mr Carter, and Mr McCrae, aka Emeny, was killed instantly. Ms Rhodes died in Tauranga Hospital a short time later.

Mr Carter was hospitalised with extensive leg and other significant injuries. He nearly died on the operating table, and is learning to walk again.

Mr Carter returned to Tauranga Hospital on crutches to hand over bunches of flowers and "the biggest chocolate gateau he could find" to say thank you to the team of nursing staff who cared for him and Ms Rhodes.

"It was very important to me that I took the time to do this. It's something I have been talking about doing for months, and today was the perfect day to do it," he said.

"These nurses are very special people, and they did everything for me.

"There are lots of knockers in the world, and I wanted to give credit where it was due. I can't speak highly enough about these staff and the way they cared for Leigh and me.

"They laughed and cried with you and if it hadn't been for the awesome care and support I received my recovery would have been a whole lot tougher."

Registered nurse Maree Crawford said she was "only" one of a number of staff involved in Mr Carter's care.

"It's lovely to be thanked but Lance is a great guy, and it's been a privilege to be able to care for him. It's great to see him up and around, and doing as well as he is.

"It's really nice to know we are appreciated; the flowers are really lovely. This doesn't happy very often, so when it does it means a lot to us," she said.

Health care assistants Wendy Gibbs and Sue Thompson agreed.

"Lance has gone through a horrendous time, and it's been a pleasure helping care for him on his long journey to recovery," Ms Thompson said.

Reynolds will be sentenced on Monday after she pleaded guilty last month to two charges of drug-impaired driving causing death, and a further charge of drug-impaired driving causing injury to Mr Carter.