'The last thing I remember was a revving noise, my injuries were like torture'

A woman who was hit by a car, thrown onto the bonnet and then run over, sustaining injuries that felt like “torture”, has no recollection of the event but is “grateful” to be alive. Rebecca O’Malley, 31, a speech and language therapist who lives in Clapham, London, was walking along the pavement with her flatmate last year when they heard a “loud revving” noise.

Although Rebecca has no memory of what happened, accounts from others and the injuries she sustained suggest she was hit by the car, thrown onto the bonnet and then went under the moving vehicle, suffering “distressing” injuries. Members of the public rushed to Rebecca’s aid before emergency services, including the London Fire Brigade (LFB), London’s Air Ambulance Charity and London Ambulance Service (LAS), treated her at the scene.

At hospital, it was confirmed her injuries included broken ribs, skull fractures, a shoulder injury, a dislocated hip, spinal fractures and severe road rash, and when she came around, she said it felt like she was in a “torture chamber”. She remained ventilated for two weeks and in the intensive care unit for a month, before moving to the trauma and orthopaedic ward, and she had several surgeries before starting her rehabilitation journey and learning how to walk again.

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Now, more than a year later, Rebecca is back at work, she has started running again and she has described her recovery as “miraculous”. Reflecting on the past year, Rebecca told PA Real Life: “In the early days, I was literally looking at my arms and thinking, ‘I am so lucky I have my arms’.

“It was just this massive gratitude for literally being present and still breathing. You’re grateful for every step you take, you’re grateful to come home and catch up with your friends and family, you’re grateful to move your body.”

In July last year, Rebecca had moved to Clapham, started a new job with the NHS as a speech and language therapist and felt excited about this new chapter in her life. However, on the evening of July 27, while walking to Clapham Common with her flatmate Ash, she said a driver lost control of their vehicle and mounted the pavement, colliding with them at speed.

“I don’t remember anything…. but from what I’ve been told, we were walking and chatting when we both suddenly heard a loud revving noise,” Rebecca explained. “I grabbed Ash’s arm because we both knew something was wrong, and that’s when, apparently, the car came from behind us onto the pavement.

“Ash got knocked off onto the street, and, strangely enough, only got a little bump on her hip, but because I was on the inside of the footpath, I think I took on most of the damage of it. I just remember waking up in hospital and being told that I’d been in an accident.”

Although it has not been determined exactly what happened, Rebecca’s injuries suggested she was hit by the car, thrown onto the bonnet and then went under the moving vehicle. An off-duty A&E nurse, who Rebecca describes as her “guardian angel”, was one of the first to attend as she heard the incident from nearby, and she helped assess Rebecca’s injuries.

Due to the noise and commotion of the incident, others attended too, including LFB firefighters from the station across the road, and various 999 calls were made. As a result, the London’s Air Ambulance Charity team were dispatched and, on their arrival, Rebecca was receiving care from LAS paramedics and the LFB.

“I’ve always said there’s luck in the unluckiness,” Rebecca said. “You wish it didn’t happen to you but then you’re grateful that, when it did, the right people were there for you.”

The team suspected Rebecca had broken most of her ribs on the right side, causing her lung to collapse, and she had many other concerning injuries to her head, pelvis and limbs. Working together, the team placed Rebecca into an induced coma and then performed surgery to the right side of her chest to release the trapped air and blood which had caused her lung to collapse.

The team then washed out the wounds to her arms and applied a Plaster of Paris cast to her left arm, before making a pre-alert call to St George’s Hospital warn them of Rebecca’s imminent arrival. “I remember looking up and seeing a hospital ceiling and my family being above my head,” Rebecca said.

“I didn’t know what had happened and I was trusting everyone else to tell me, but as I become more alert, I found it very distressing.”

At hospital, it was confirmed Rebecca had broken the majority of her ribs on the right side, had skull fractures, a broken clavicle, a broken scapula and a degloving injury to her shoulder. She had multiple fractures on her spine, causing compression on her spinal cord, a dislocated hip, an open fracture on her arm, as well as severe road rash across various parts of her body.

She underwent long surgeries on her arm and shoulder, fusing the bones back together with metal plates, and she was placed in a neck-to-rib brace until she was stable enough to undergo surgery on her spine. Describing the pain, Rebecca said: “The level of pain I had, the level of injuries I had, it was like being stuck in a torture chamber.

“I couldn’t move and I couldn’t communicate, other than giving a wobbly thumbs up or thumbs down.”

Rebecca said she needed help with, and had to re-learn, basic tasks such as showering, standing and walking, and she was “fed through (her) nose” for around four weeks as she could not eat or drink. She said she lost most of her strength and, at times, felt “very lonely”, but she “stubbornly” pushed herself to get better and was supported by her loved ones.

“It was brutal to stand up, it was brutal to shuffle for two seconds, everything was impossible,” she said. “I had no body strength. I couldn’t even position myself in the bed without three people helping me.”

After the spinal surgery, Rebecca had occupational therapy and physiotherapy, which began in the hospital and then continued when she was discharged to a rehabilitation unit in September last year. Rebecca said she felt “timid” after leaving the rehabilitation unit, especially when walking on pavements again, but venturing outside on her own was “such a milestone”.

On the anniversary of the incident this year, Rebecca said she did not want to be in London, so she and her sister went to Greece – and this was the best decision. “We just had a drink, it was a lovely sunset, and we said, ‘What a year. Who would have thought we’d be here now?’,” Rebecca said.

Rebecca said she is now living a relatively “normal life”, just with “lots of scarring”.

She still has rehabilitation sessions once or twice a week and struggles with pain and fatigue, but she is now back working full-time and has started running again. She hopes to one day complete a fundraising running event for London’s Air Ambulance Charity and St George’s Hospital to give back to the teams who helped to save her life.

Speaking about her advice to others, she said: “You can only focus on the there and now each day, what can you do and what’s within your control. Try to focus on those small steps, not the big event that you are envisioning, and seek support when you need it.

“Be kind to yourself as you’re trying to figure out this new chapter of your life.”

Speaking about the emergency services who treated her at the scene, she added: “I can’t express gratitude enough for what they did that day.”