A second chance at life following truckie’s terrifying health scare

For Victorian truck driver Lynn Werchon Haysom, 67, what happened back in August came without any warning.

Lucky to be alive and having made a remarkable recovery, Lynn is putting her terrifying ordeal behind her and hopes to soon be back doing two-up from east to west, together with her husband Tony Haysom, 66.

The long-time truckie has been in the job for 35 years and is super eager to be able to drive the big rigs again. “I see trucks out there and I get a tear, I just want to get back in there and get going again,” she said.

Working for GKR Transport, the Wangaratta based couple had arrived home from their usual Melbourne to Perth run one Sunday evening. Lynn was feeling a bit under the weather so did a Covid test and it came back positive. She had also been battling a headache in the days leading up.

“When we got home, I wasn’t feeling too good. I had headaches for a few days and was living on Panadol and Nurofen to get me through,” she told Big Rigs.

“Then on Monday, I had this massive headache at the back of my head. It was an awful pain that I’d never experienced before. I told Tony I was going to have a lay down – and that’s the last thing I remember.”

As it turned out, the cause of that pain was two brain aneurisms. “Apparently I screamed out Tony’s name, but I don’t remember doing it. Doctors told me afterwards that the scream would have happened as they both burst, because it’s so painful,” she said.

Tony rushed over to Lynn and found her unresponsive. “My mouth was blue and my eyes half open. He rang 000 and they said he needed to start CPR straight away. At that point, no one knew what it was,” Lynn said.

Lynn was rushed by ambulance to Wangaratta Hospital. After a scan revealed the two burst brain aneurisms, she was air-lifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where she stayed for 5.5 weeks, as the aneurisms were drained and coiled. She was also placed in an induced coma for three days. “I don’t remember any of it, not even being flown to Melbourne,” she revealed. “I ended up in ICU a couple of times too.”

As Tony added, “They said we were in for a rough couple of weeks and that we wouldn’t know until she comes out of a coma if she’d have full speech or any other issues. They don’t know until they wake up.”

After weeks in hospital and no recollection of what had happened to get her there, Lynn woke up and was unable to walk. “My legs were tired, I’d been laid up for 5.5 weeks so I couldn’t take big steps. I couldn’t walk properly and I felt quite disorientated at the beginning,” she said.

Tony continued, “When they’d ask Lynn if she knew where she was, she would shrug her shoulders and say, ‘I don’t know, up shit creek!’

“She’d often ask what had happened to her and why she was there. And it wasn’t until about three weeks in that she said, ‘You tell me that every day.’ That’s when I knew she was getting better, because she was starting to remember.”

As Lynn’s condition improved, she was taken back to Wangaratta Hospital, where she stayed for the next few weeks.

Tony gave up work to be Lynn’s full-time carer. He hopes to hit the road again soon, hopefully back doing triple road trains with Lynn for GKR.

Recalling the traumatic incident that could have killed her, Lynn said, “There were no real warning signs other than a headache. I went to sleep and I didn’t wake up.

“After going to sleep and that happening, it scared the hell out of me. For a while I was scared to go to sleep, but I’m much better now.”

Determined and eager, in the weeks after Lynn arrived home, she made great progress. “The doctors didn’t know how I would be or if I’d have a stroke. But thankfully none of that happened and I was okay. Everything came back after a couple of weeks and I’m all back to normal now. I’ve had brain scans since then and they’ve all been clear,” Lynn said.

Now that she’s made a full recovery, Lynn is focused on getting her MC licence back. “I absolutely can’t wait to get back into it,” and GKR is eager to have the couple back too, once they are ready.

“GKR Transport has been really, really supportive throughout it all. They’re all such beautiful people.”

Lynn and Tony had been with GKR just on 12 months last August when the unthinkable happened – however they’d also worked there for a three-year stint in the past as well.

Their life on the road has seen them travel all over this vast country – from Melbourne to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and more. 

Along with at one stage running their own fleet of three trucks for their business Mosyah Transport (their surname spelt backwards), they’ve worked for numerous other companies including AirRoad, KS Easter, as well as Nascatrans Express during a brief move to the west.

At GKR, the couple were handed the keys to a brand new 2025 K220, about six months into their role. “Before that we had a manual K200, whereas the K220 is an auto,” said Lynn. “These new ones are so different inside compared to the K200. They’re beautiful to drive. The first time I got put into an auto, I was trying to press the clutch and change gears, but I got used to it quickly and now I love it,” she laughed.

Lynn underwent a driving test to get her car licence back on January 27 with both a driving instructor and occupational therapist, which she passed. She will now need to go through another driving test to get her MC licence back – and is hopeful of being back on the road next month.

“Trucking has been my life for a long time. It’s been one hell of a ride. I’m so happy to be here and more than ready to get stuck into it again!” she said.