October 19, 2018
A South Auckland boy who pushed his young brother out of the way of an oncoming car, before being struck himself and sent flying around 10 metres, kept saying he was too busy to go to hospital.
Caleb Currey, 17, was pushing his three-year-old brother to daycare in a stroller when the incident occurred in Waiuku earlier this year.
"So I looked both ways, went across the road and then the car...I was almost on the path but then it (car) hit me."
The impact sent the 17-year-old flying face first into the road, which left him in a serious condition, some of his injuries included, a hairline fracture to his head, a burst blood vessel in one eye and a grazed shoulder.
His brother Sonny was left with a couple of grazes. The car was travelling at 50kph.
Months later, now well on the road to recovery, Caleb was reunited with the medical team at the scene on the day.
Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Dr Emma Batistich said the whole scenario could have been a lot worse if he hadn't pushed Sonny out of the way.
"He did a really good job of pushing the push chair out of the way, that's the one thing that stuck with me."
His rescuers said the fast response from bystanders and emergency services made it possible for Caleb to get the help he needed quickly and effectively.
With members of Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust and St John working together from the time of the first call at around 8.24am, Caleb made it to Auckland hospital in 61 minutes, before his situation could deteriorate.
But at the time of the incident, Caleb thought he was too busy to go to hospital, and told his rescuers he had more important things that needed his attention that day.
Dr Batistich recalls Caleb saying he was fine and had to keep going.
"You were worried about your brother and you had to go and do stuff ... far too busy to go to hospital," Dr Batistich told Caleb during their reunion.
Caleb responded by saying he had a busy day planned.
"So it kind of ruined all my plans," Caleb said.
His mum Rayleen said his preoccupation with his busy schedule continued when she visited him in hospital He was obsessed with practicing lines for a play, she said.
"We didn't understand a thing he was saying, but he was reciting lines for a play that he was doing, and he was focusing on that, which I think was a good distraction for him," Rayleen said.
Caleb was in hospital for five days and during the very beginning of his recovery, his family received a lot of support from the community.
"I didn't have to cook dinner for a month," Rayleen said.
Caleb said he was still in his early phase of recovery and it would take around a year to fully recover.
Dr Batistich said while his injuries could have been more severe, brain injuries would take a while to heal.
"Brain injuries have a huge impact. I don't think people realise just how long it takes to recover from even a minor brain injury.
"[Caleb's injury] in the scheme of things was relatively minor, and it's just going to take ages just to get back."
The rescue team said they didn't often get the chance to meet up with patients and were happy to see Caleb doing well.
"This is very seldom," Intensive Care Paramedic Marcel Driessen said.
"So with everything happening that day, the end result is today, us sitting here, having a great catch up with everything absolutely great and a family member still present."
