A family shattered by horror crash

Without any warning, Michelle Davies' life changed forever.

One minute the Auckland newlywed was on her way south with her husband, Greg, and 6-year-old daughter, Gemma, for a family weekend away. The next, the 36-year-old was being dragged unconscious from the crumpled, upturned wreck of her vehicle after it was struck by a 4WD BMW.

The BMW driver, who ran from the scene and was later found hiding in bushes by a police Eagle helicopter using heat-sensing equipment, has been charged with drink-driving. Other charges are expected to follow.

Michelle, seated on the passenger side, bore the full impact of the crash.

Overnight she was still unconscious in Auckland Hospital, neurologists unsure about her recovery.

Greg says all he can do is hope she wakes up soon. He believes the crash need not have happened. It was the result of the driver of the BMW crossing the centre line.

"In an instant we saw it coming. I had no time to avoid it, nowhere to go and no time to stop.

"It is a miracle others weren't maimed or killed."

Greg didn't know the driver of the other car had allegedly been drinking, or had struggled free from the wreck and made a run for it, leaving passengers trapped in the car. Surprisingly, there is little anger in his voice.

There is no time or energy to question what happened, he says. He trusts police and crash investigators to make sure justice is done.

"It is not for me to assess or judge why the BMW crashed into us head on, on my side of the road."

Right now, Greg's priority is Michelle. The couple grew up on Auckland's North Shore, hung round together as teenagers, and last month flew to Rarotonga for their wedding and honeymoon.

Now plans for their future are on hold. Greg doesn't particularly want to think or talk about the driver, preferring to speak in a measured, thoughtful way.

His priority, he says, is to spend as many hours as he can by Michelle's bedside and to help daughter Gemma's life get back to normal.

Gemma was sitting directly behind her mother when the smash happened. Her booster seat was a write-off, covered in glass and metal fragments, and the front passenger seat was rammed backwards, trapping her briefly. Yet she had no physical injuries, except minor bruises. Front airbags saved Greg from serious injury.

He can't explain why he and Gemma walked away unscathed. There are too many other unanswered questions that will have to wait.

He has to be strong, he says, for Gemma. He has done his grieving - last week when doctors told him his wife might die and he had to prepare his daughter for the news. But she didn't, and Michelle has now moved from intensive care to a neurological critical care ward.

Greg says his wife is "doing well."

By this he means she has squeezed his hand, and once or twice her eyes have flickered open when she was asked to try. Greg's family and friends are constantly by Michelle's side, talking, waiting, hoping for a response. Gemma chats to her mother, shows her things and draws her pictures.

It could be two years before it is known to what extent Michelle will recover. Greg has been warned his wife may not be the same person he knew before the accident, and that after hospital she will have to spend time at a rehabilitation centre.

Her other injuries - a slashed left ear and face, broken left hand and wrist and a badly broken right leg - have taken second place. Those are injuries doctors can fix.

Doctors have warned it will be a long, slow haul to recovery but Greg says: "One thing that we have on our side is time."

Greg says he wants to express his thanks to those who helped at the accident scene as well as staff at the intensive care and neurological wards at Auckland Hospital.