A woman who almost died in a hit-and-run incident in the summer of 2016 is running in the Cork City Marathon today with the medic who saved her life.
Olivia Keating was training for the marathon when she was knocked down on June 2nd, 2016 in Ballinascarthy, Co Cork by a motorist who fled the scene. Ms Keating spent more than a fortnight in a coma before undergoing intensive rehabilitation.
She was running the marathon today alongside consultant in emergency medicine, Dr Jason van der Velde, to raise funds for the West Cork Rapid Response Unit, where the medic volunteers.
Ms Keating, who is in her forties, told Newstalk that she was fortunate to escape with her life in the incident.
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“Unfortunately I went head first through a road sign. My helmet kind of got caught in this sign, and there was a little wall in the ditch which I came down on to. I kind of more or less broke everything on the left side of my body.
For about kind of two years I still had a couple of surgeries ... quite big ones: one on my shoulder and one on my leg.”
Dr van der Velde said that Olivia was in an “absolute heap” when he attended at the scene.
“She had an awful traumatic brain injury, facial injuries, long bone injuries. She really required a neuroprotective anaesthetic there in the street to survive. Our role in pre-hospital emergency medicine here in Cork is to provide critical care support — at the side of the road, on the farm — for those patients who simply will not make it to hospital.”
Olivia and Jason live in the same town at the time and saw each other “every now and then” after the crash.
Dr van der Velde said he also met Olivia when he was providing cover at Courtmacsherry Marathon about three years ago. Olivia urged him to take part in the marathon. “I’m on a bit of journey, like most people, trying to get fit and lose a bit of weight. Olivia was kind of joking at me — ‘Oh now look, we can get you running a marathon’ — I was like ‘No, never’. I suppose it’s kind of steamrolled from there ... she press-ganged me into it. Dr van der Velde explains that West Cork Rapid Response provides emergency critical care in West Cork.
“But people won’t realise as well that we support local, voluntary, emergency medical personnel ... to be able to respond pre-hospital in their voluntary time, in their own free time, to people in need. “This marathon/fundraiser is really to put some of that money back into the education, in particular, of the marathon medical team. Those first aiders who give up their time.”
Donations can be made at https://gofund.me/c15fc1f9