Tuatua for miracle crash survivor

Karen McGregor-Dawson, the miracle survivor of a head-on car smash which claimed two lives last week, yesterday sat up in her hospital bed for a feed of tuatuas dipped in vinegar.

The seafood was a gift from her father Buddy who, after hearing his daughter had been cut out of her crumpled Toyota Rav4 after a crash with a stolen Mercedes in the Dome Valley on Tuesday afternoon, could not face the sight of Karen fighting for her life.

Instead, Karen's mother Janice got in her car and raced to Auckland after receiving the phone call that every parent dreads. Buddy followed when he knew his daughter was going to pull through.

The gift of seafood is a tradition in their close family raised in the Far North - Houhora and Kaitaia.

Yesterday, surrounded by her family, including older sister Paula Goodburn and younger brother Willie, Karen tried to deal with the shock of the horror accident which killed two people in the car which crashed into her.

"It is going to be a slow recovery. I am so grateful my brain is still working and my spine is intact," she told the Herald on Sunday from her hospital bed.

Karen woke yesterday feeling tired, sore and a little low, emotional from the overwhelming support from family and friends, facing a long recovery and worrying that she would no longer be allowed to take her precious nieces and nephews up north in her car to stay with their grandparents.

Last week she had surgery to insert a rod to hold her badly-broken left femur together. Her wrist and collar bone are broken, her right knee gashed open to the bone and her body is covered in bruises, including a black eye.

Near her bed is a maroon-coloured Bible, the same Bible that her brother Willie found wedged, unmarked, in the hideous wreck of metal that was her Rav4 when he went to collect his sister's belongings the day after the crash.

Karen attributes her survival to her faith in God. "I believe He was with me. He's a miracle worker and I still believe in miracles."

She doesn't remember much about the accident, apart from regaining consciousness and hearing a woman comforting her, telling her that rescuers would cut her free. Unbeknown to Karen, petrol was seeping from her car.

Minutes earlier a 16-year-old, driving a stolen Mercedes C200, roared south on State Highway 1 through the Dome Valley, north of Warkworth. He pulled out to pass a line of cars and smashed into Karen who was on her way to spend a week with her parents in Paihia.

Within an hour she was flown to Auckland Hospital by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, sharing the ride with 14-year-old Hone Yates, a passenger in the Mercedes.

Dead at the scene were 17-year-old Hemi Noble and Fred Murphy, a 34-year-old hairdresser who had hitched a lift near Kerikeri.

Yesterday Karen said she felt no ill-feeling or animosity towards the driver.

"I feel sad for the families involved, particularly the parents. It was unfortunate they made the wrong choice with consequences that affected many other people."

A week of tragedies on our roads

Sunday, October 1: A young woman is thrown from her car and killed when she crashes off Auckland's Southern Motorway into a garage of a house. Two male teenage passengers sustain serious injuries.

Tuesday, October 3: A 16-year-old driving a stolen Mercedes collides with a Rav4 north of Warkworth while overtaking. Passengers Hemi Noble, 16, and hitch-hiker Frederick Te Aparua Murphy, 34, were killed in the crash. The Rav4 driver, Karen McGregor-Dawson, is badly injured.

Tuesday, October 3: Jordan Evan Crockett, 17, of Tauranga, dies when the car he is driving crashes head-on with another vehicle while overtaking near Bethlehem, just out of Tauranga. A 17-year-old passenger is dragged to safety from the burning car.

Tuesday, October 3: A man dies after his truck and trailer unit crashes into a ditch on State Highway 4 near Parikino, Wanganui, around 1.30am.

Wednesday, October 4: A 43-year-old woman is killed in a two-car collision south of Opotiki.

Thursday, October 5: Kristofer Moon, 18, dies after the car he is driving crashes into a pole on Auckland's Mt Wellington Highway.

Thursday, October 5: A man is found dead at a car crash scene in Hampden, Otago.

Thursday, October 5: A driver loses control of a vehicle in Manurewa and crashes through a barrier into trees. A 6-year-old is killed and five adult passengers hospitalised.

Friday, October 6: A 37-year-old front-seat passenger in a Suzuki van is killed and the driver seriously injured in a crash with a Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD at a Hawke's Bay black-spot intersection.

Friday, October 6: A 44-year-old woman dies after the car she is driving collides with another vehicle south of Winton. The 58-year-old male driver of the second car was yesterday in intensive care.

Friday, October 6: 6-year-old Sania Kylene Arohana King of Hamilton dies and two others are injured after a crash between a truck and people-mover on a highway near Auckland's Mt Richmond Domain.