Cherie Howie interviews Boss Pomare, a man who was run over by a ute, dragged 100m and survived. Accompanied by a cover from Boss singing to his daughter.
Dislocated right shoulder. Dislocated left shoulder. Elbow no longer in socket. First-degree burns to back and belly. Thirteen broken ribs. Dangling ear. Calf muscle missing a chunk. Left heel also missing a chunk.
That's what happens when a ute runs over your body and drags it 100m along the unforgiving bitumen of a suburban road, before spitting you out into the darkness.
An engagement. A realisation of the important things in life. Kisses and cuddles from little people each morning.
That's also what happens when a ute runs over your body and drags it 100m along the unforgiving bitumen of a suburban road, before spitting you out into the darkness.
Boss Pomare, far right, and Sapphire Chase, third from left, with their four youngest children, from left, Chezahn, 13, Jordis, 10, Jekaylah-Rae, 5, and Bos'den, 2. Photo / Supplied
But in many ways, that's not a bad thing.
"You appreciate what you've got," he told the Herald from his home, where he's been recovering since being discharged from hospital 16 days after the May 14 incident - about six months earlier than doctors expected.
"Not only [has it] changed things for me, but it's changed things for my family. Every day when they wake up now my children are telling me they love me. They never really got that chance while I was working. I was going to work while they were sleeping and I'd get home and it wasn't long before they were going to bed again.
"It's awesome to wake to, not that I planned this or anything."
He certainly didn't.
Pomare, who is from Panguru in the Far North but also lived in Tokoroa and Levin before crossing the Tasman five years ago, was walking home from a night out with friends when he was struck while crossing a road near his Pakenham home about 2am.
The ute allegedly crossed the centre line and the 34-year-old tried to run clear, but slipped.
He saw headlights, heard a boom and was then under the ute.
"I remember hearing some winding sound under the car, like the wheels were spinning off the ground. I can't remember being dragged but I do remember being spat out of the car."
It was dark and he could hear echoing sounds. It was his friends running to his aid.
"I was looking up at the sky thinking 'Is this me gone? Is this me dead?"
Boss Pomare, pictured before the incident, with his fiancee, Sapphire Chase. PHoto / Supplied
With tyre marks across his torso, unable to move and struggling to breathe, Pomare's thoughts turned to his partner of 17 years, Sapphire Chase, and their five children.
"I just didn't know whether I was going to get them to see them. I didn't want the last thing for them to see was me going down on the piss. So I thought about them from that moment onwards."
As he drifted in and out of consciousness, Chase arrived at the scene.
"She was telling me off ... telling me to calm down, telling me 'shut up, we've got to do this, we've got things to do'.
At The Alfred Hospital, Pomare was put in an induced coma, but Chase remained at his side. The first 24 hours were touch and go, and family were warned Pomare would likely remain in a coma for three weeks.
But he woke up after just a few days and was on his feet - albeit in a lot of pain - a week later. He's also had two big operations, including one to graft skin across his shredded back.
Boss Pomare recovering in The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Photo / Supplied
Family were calling him their "man of steel" because of the speed of his early recovery, but they could take a big part of the responsibility, Pomare said.
Chase alone helped him emerge from the coma, singing waiata at his bedside.
"She was right by my side the whole time, singing me songs, because I love my music ... and she said a lot of things by my side that the doctors reckoned I could hear."
Police were speaking with an 18-year-old man after the incident, but Victoria Police did not respond to a request for information on the investigation.
He was initially unhappy with the driver of the ute for not stopping, but later found out more about the man's decision.
"It was only a young guy, he didn't know what to do ... he was scared. I have no hatred towards anybody. I feel like everyone deserves a second chance and I know had I not been drinking that night I wouldn't have been there at all, so I don't fully put the blame on him at all."
Boss Pomare, bottom left, recovering at home with his family, clockwise from top left, Chezahn, Jordis, Ralpheal, fiancee Sapphire Chase, Bos'den and Jekaylah-Rae. Photo / Supplied
The meatworks slaughterman was now focusing on healing, and on marrying his sweetheart.
Both he and Chase had seen marriage as "just a piece of paper", until Pomare's mind changed about six years ago. He's been pestering Chase since, and now she's said yes.
