Bottled gran: 'My freedom is gone'

Doctors say Mary Loader's fitness has helped her recovery. Photo / BOP Times

Bottled granny Mary Loader completed the Rotorua marathon last year - now she's scared to tackle stairs.

The 65-year-old widow, who suffered horrific facial injuries after being hit with a glass bottle thrown from a passing car, has spoken for the first time about the attack - and how it robbed her of her independence.

"I can't drive, can't go to the shops yet. My freedom is gone," she said. "I'm weak in my legs - it's like being on a boat. The type of injury I had is what causes my instability.

"I'm still unstable, but I'm getting better. I can walk up 15 steps now. It's scary going up and down stairs."

The mother of four and grandmother of seven was enjoying a daily walk when the partially full beer bottle was hurled at her six Sundays ago.

The impact knocked her to the ground and left her with shattered cheekbones, a shattered jawbone, a broken nose, gashes on her face, a brain injury and permanently damaged vision.

Her face and arms were bruised and swollen beyond recognition.

Loader underwent three hours of surgery on the day of the attack and had five titanium plates inserted into her face.

She spent 11 days in Tauranga Hospital, unconscious for four and in intensive care for six.

She is staying with daughter Vicky in Hamilton, faces months of physical rehabilitation, further surgery on her nose, and can no longer read or drive. Blind in one eye before the attack, she now has only 30 per cent vision.

The attack knocked out her teeth, but she is unable to have dentures fitted until the plates in her face can be removed. Unable to eat solid food, she eats "baby food".

But she's determined to recover. "I'm improving slowly. I can actually walk a couple of hundred metres or so now. It's taken quite a while to get it back.

"Each day I feel better and stronger, more positive. Each day I try something new, one little step further."

She remembers leaving her house but not the attack. "The first thing I remember is waking up in the hospital when they took the tube out [four days later]."

And while a photo of her bloodied face was seen across New Zealand, Loader has never looked at it. "I don't think I'm quite ready to see that. My son has some photos on his camera, which he's keeping to show me when I'm ready."

She avoided looking in the mirror because she did not want to see her injuries at their worst but was shocked when she accidentally saw her reflection.

"I said, 'Who the hell's that behind me?' Everything was black - my face was black. I've still got bruising. It was a bit of a shock but I didn't look again."

Daughter Sue Rush says the attack has been "devastating" for the family and she was initially angry with whoever threw the bottle.

"Initially, I was peeved. Now I just focus on Mum."

Remarkably, Loader is not angry with her attacker. "What's the point of being angry? It eats you up."

But she has a message for them - and those who know their identities: "Get a conscience. Think before you act. That's about it really.

"They could have just tossed it out of the way and not even looked back, and not even realised they hit somebody."

The incident has not changed her view of Papamoa, where she moved 15 years ago to be with her late husband Ron.

"I'd like to go back and be independent once again."

And she has been overwhelmed by the support she has received. "I've had cards from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island. I've got a shoebox full and they are still coming from people I don't even know.

"It's lovely to know people out there care. I just want to thank everybody."

Despite her injuries Loader feels fortunate her 13-year-old grandson Jackson changed his mind about cycling beside her on the day of the attack.

"If he had been beside me, it could have been him. Think what might have happened to him."

Doctors told Loader her fitness has helped her recover.

She did press-ups and lifted weights before the attack, and is aiming to battle back to fitness.

"Just because I'm 65, I'm not dead. You've got to look forward and things can only get better surely, hopefully."