IT SEEMED like any other day to Kersti Sprigg.
The 23 year old woke up, got dressed for work, got in her 1994 Holdon Nova and stopped to get a coffee - but that was when normality came to an end.
While driving she lost consciousness - a reaction to new medication. The car travelled 200 metres and hit an oncoming car, with a combined force of 140 kmh.
"I remember waking up in the car after the impact. The police and ambulance had just got there as I came too. I didn't know what had happened.
"Then I saw my uniform and I remembered I was driving to work and then realised that I wasn't driving any more.
"I rolled my head around and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.''
Kersti suffered major trauma to her face and legs. The impact of the crash had pushed the dashboard through her knee, there was a deep burn down the right side of her face, she had knocked-out teeth from the root, and cut her chin open.
One of her teeth was later found on the back seat of the car.
"I looked like I had been split open from the inside out, it was disgusting.
"I was in a lot of pain, but I remember them cutting the seatbelt off me and then someone saying 'we could lose her'.
"I was in and out of consciousness, but I didn't think that I was going to die ... I just wanted to see my mum.''
Unaware of what was happening to her daughter, Wendy Mitchell woke up about 7.45am feeling uneasy.
"I started feeling sick to the stomach,'' she recalls.
"I rang my husband to see if he was OK because I thought that I might have poisoned us [with my cooking]. He said he was fine, but I started feeling so ill and I said to myself 'you have to ring Kersti'.
"That's when I rang her work and they asked how she was.
"I found out she'd been involved in a head-on collision and airlifted to a hospital. That is all they knew.
After making a few phone calls Wendy drove to The Alfred still not knowing what awaited her.
"I was in shock. I didn't even know how she was. But once I arrived the doctors prepared me for what I would see.
"Everyone just kept saying how lucky she was.''
Kersti still remembers the moment she was reunited with her mother.
"I kept asking for mum, and when she came in that was when I finally started crying,'' Kersti says.
Within eight hours Kersti was on the operating table. Doctors had to repair the damage to her knee, and plastic surgeons stitched her face back together.
"I cried before the surgery because I thought I wasn't going to come back out.
"But I remember saying to the doctors 'stitch me up good','' she says with a laugh.
"Afterwards I asked the nurses if I could have a mirror. When I looked at myself I was devastated. I looked hideous. It was not pretty.
"But looking back on photos of I what I looked like they really did a good job.''
Two surgeries, 27 needles and four days later Kersti signed herself out of the hospital.
"It was like my whole life had been turned upside down, and I was stuck in those four walls.
"I had to learn how to walk properly again. I still attend physiotherapy twice a week and treatment for my dental injuries will continue for at least 12 months.''
While the physical damage is on the mend, she says she still suffers psychologically. "It just changes your whole life. Sometimes I have flashbacks of coming too in the car when I am trying to get to sleep.
"And fire engines and helicopters freak me out because they were at the accident scene. I'm not great with some sounds; I just want it to go back to the way it was.''
Kersti says that without the support of her parents and step-parents, friends, work colleagues and her uncle Brian "Bully'' Mitchell, this story could have had a very different ending.
"My family and friends have been fantastic. The amount of support everyone gave me was amazing.
"Without that support I think I would have given up, I wouldn't have wanted to be here any more.''
Kersti has decided to share her story as part of a fund-raising event for Life Support, a group committed to raising much-needed funds to improve trauma care in Australia.
"The reason I am doing this is to hopefully raise money and get some better equipment to help other people.
"Because without new technology they wouldn't be able to do what they do.''
The Golden Hour Ball is on at 7pm, this Friday at Central Pier, Docklands. Tickets: $180 per head. For more details or to make a donation contact 9076 3222 or visit www.lifesupport.com.au
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