An horrific truck crash earlier this week has left a young truck driver critically injured. Now the trucking community is banding together to help raise funds.
Michelle, a young livestock truckie from Western Victoria, was travelling through the Colac area earlier this week when the unthinkable happened. The crash left her trapped in the truck for close to 12 hours and she suffered critical injuries, with both legs requiring amputation.
The Mortlake Roadhouse in Mortlake, Victoria, has now set up a fundraiser to help raise money that will go towards helping Michelle’s rehabilitation, helping her to rebuild her life and assisting her family.
Roadhouse owner, Dion Symons, started the fundraiser after being approached by truckies Matthew Brown from Boyle’s Livestock Transport and Jason Keane from Kelly Livestock, who are friends with Michelle’s brother Lachie. “They wanted to do something for her and didn’t know how to go about it, so they came in and they’ve seen me and off we went,” he said.
A bucket with Michelle’s photo and some aspiring words including “You can do this” and “Tough as F**k” has been placed on a table, with Mortlake Roadhouse chipping in $500 to get the ball rolling.
Since putting the bucket out yesterday and sharing the post on Facebook, the response has been overwhelming. “It’s gone out of control. The boys who started it and wanted me to do it thought a few local truckies might get behind it, but by 11-12 last night, we realised just how far it had gone – I’ve had people from overseas call the roadhouse, wanting to donate,” Symons said.
“It makes you realise how tough and strong the trucking community is. When the chips are down, they’re the first to come together and do this sort of thing. It astounds me how tough and resilient this industry is.”
When we spoke with Symons this afternoon, he said the funds raised had just hit the $10,000 mark.
With so many wanting to donate but unable to get to Mortlake, Symons has also set up a bank account under the name Fight Michelle, which is being used exclusively for donations. “When I did the banking for the roadhouse this morning, the bank was nice enough to rush an account through,” he said.
“By all accounts, people tell me she’s one tough cookie and will fight like hell. She came in here from time to time and from what all the boys say, she’s as tough as they come and that’s why everyone has this real hope that she can get through this. The next three days are going to be vital.”
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