Mother's tragic story that inspired her to become a paramedic
Mother-of-four Luanne Willingham has never forgotten the paramedics who helped save her life after a domestic assault put her in a coma almost two decades ago.
After years of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her former partner, the Melbourne woman has overcome her demons to become a paramedic herself and is now helping others.
The empowerment that came with achieving her dream career with Ambulance Victoria has helped the victim reclaim her life.
Horrific attack almost took her life
She described one of the horrific attacks to Yahoo News Australia, recalling the moment she feared her then-partner would someday kill her.
“He grabbed me by the throat and threw me in the bushes. I couldn’t breathe. I sat up gasping for air. I don’t know how long I was out, but by then he was long gone.
“I thought, ‘If can’t get away, I will be dead.’”
Another attack came close to ending her life in 2001, when Ms Willingham was beaten so badly it put her in a coma.
She remembers hearing the paramedics’ voices saying, “can you open your eyes Luanne?”, and asking her to squeeze their hand.
She was never able to thank those first responders for saving her life, but the moment made a lasting impression.
“I always thought about the paramedics that helped me. I think, wow, if not for them my other three kids wouldn’t exist,” she said.
When she eventually left the abusive relationship, the single mother had nowhere to go. Her little boy was safely placed between grandparents and family friends while she slept on the streets of Melbourne.
After about six months of sleeping rough, Ms Willingham was placed into transitional, then commission housing, where she lived with her son.
It was a tough financial and emotional struggle, but over the years she has discovered the positive in the negative, and has since built a new life for herself.
Now 43, Ms Willingham has three children and a loving relationship with a man who had been a long-time friend.
How domestic abuse victim is overcoming emotional ‘demons’
With her children having grown up – now aged 23, 16, 12 and 11 – Ms Willingham made new friends through a local mothers’ group, who were the support she needed to realise she was smart and capable enough to make something of her life.
She enrolled in a paramedicine course and after four tough years at uni, she has now achieved her dream of becoming a paramedic as way to give back to the first responders who saved her life 18 years ago.
Asked how her life today compared to where it was two decades ago, the emotional mother put it simply: “I love myself”.
She spoke of fighting the negative voice in her head, which hung around after decades of emotional abuse, as she battled to complete university as a mature-age student with four kids.
“It was bloody hard with family and kids. I had many meltdown moments. Sometimes I’d think I was stupid to think I could do this. Those demons, they stay there.”
But the closer she came to the end of her four years of study, the more empowered she became with her dream career in sight.
‘Look where I am now, I am owning my life’
For years she had nightmares that she was being chased by the person who assaulted her. Ms Willingham went from having these nightmares every couple of months, to having only one in the past three years.
“I feel that my life now has validated what happened and my recovery from it. I believe everything in life is a reflection of what you have been through. For every negative there is a positive,” she said.
“Through all those years, the belief in myself got stronger. Once you truly believe in yourself, you can do anything – no matter where you’ve come from or what you’ve been through.
“Now when I have the nightmares I think: ‘Look where I am now’... I am owning my life and this is why I believe the nightmares started to reduce.”
She has also become a true inspiration to her children. Ms Willingham’s eldest son, who was five at the time of the assault that put her in a coma, is now a police officer, determined to help other victims.
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