Couple's miraculous survival after crash during birthday road trip
A South Australian couple involved in a major car accident that saw their car flip and land in trees have walked away with just a few bruises.
Jake Manser, 28, and his girlfriend Theresa MacRae, 31, were driving from their hometown of Tananoola – about 20 minutes from Mount Gambier – to Adelaide to celebrate Ms MacRae’s birthday on July 31.
Mr Manser told Yahoo News Australia the couple were about two hours into their road trip when they heard their car make a “strange single knock”.
About 30 minutes later, they heard the noise repeat. This time it followed with the sound of a large crack and scrape.
“The car pulled to the left dramatically and despite my efforts to brake and hold the vehicle straight, we ended up off the road,” Mr Manser explained.
“We collided with several small trees and flipped the car end-to-end. I imagine it’s how a sock feels in the tumble dryer.”
When the car came to a stop, Mr Manser said he was relieved to hear his girlfriend ask if he was OK.
‘Amazed’ to be alive
When the pair established they were both responsive and relatively unharmed, they climbed out of the mangled vehicle through the driver’s side.
“As you could imagine, we had a rather lengthy and shaky hug,” Mr Manser said.
Looking back at photos of the wreck, Mr Manser told Yahoo News he was “truly amazed” they survived and were standing upright.
“I still can’t believe I’m not in a wheelchair or a pine box,” he said.
The couple were taken to Meningie Hospital where Ms MacRae was released, but nurses made sure she could stay with Mr Manser while he remained in hospital for observation overnight.
“Theresa has a pretty impressive bruise from the seatbelt, which has been every colour of the rainbow over the last few days,” he said.
“It’s likely I have a fractured rib, though I haven’t had an x-ray to confirm yet. We’ve both had worse injuries from snowboarding and martial arts, so we’re very, very lucky.”
Mr Manser said what happened next restored his “faith in humanity”.
Hotel’s touching act for couple
The staff at Meningie Hospital offered to help the couple get home or continue their holiday. The pair chose to continue to Adelaide where they had booked a stay at The Adina Hotel.
Mr Manser said the hotel staff were understanding when the couple explained why they were a day late checking in and were amazed at what the pair had survived.
“When we checked in, they sent a card with some wine and chocolate to our room, and to our amazement, continued to send us gifts and cards for the following two nights that we stayed with them,” he explained.
“Theresa and I were beginning to wonder if we were dreaming, because everyone we met was so kind and caring.”
Despite the terrifying accident and losing a car, the pair still managed to celebrate Ms MacRae’s birthday through their “aches and pains” with a little help from hotel staff.
“We still made the effort to do as much as we could while we were there. Theresa even got a little birthday cake from the hotel staff, and she got to enjoy her favourite sushi train,” Mr Manser said.
Mr Manser shared their story on social media to thank everyone who had shown them kindness during the ordeal.
“The community of Meningie is very lucky to have such a wonderful team at their hospital, and there’s no doubt that the next time we visit Adelaide, we’ll be staying at Adina again. We really can’t thank everyone enough,” he said.
Mr Manser said people started offering to donate funds to help replace Ms MacRae’s car, so he started a GoFundMe page to help with the cost, so far raising more than $2,700.
“With all the negativity around at the moment, it was nice to experience genuine kindness and compassion in a crisis. There are many people like the ambulance volunteers we may never see again, but I won't forget them,” he said.
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