By DANIELLE GALVIN
A FORMER machinist who slipped into a diabetic coma and ran off the road in Garfield in 2002 said he was thankful that he didn’t kill anyone.
Beaconsfield double amputee Jonathan Greyling lost both his legs after an accident on the Princes Highway.
“Basically, I fell asleep at the wheel,” he said.
“I wasn’t aware of it but the car left the road and I hit a concrete structure in the middle of the freeway.
“Fortunately, no one else was hurt – I knew nothing about it at the time.”
When Mr Greyling woke up at The Alfred hospital, both of his legs were “smashed” and he had spinal and head injuries.
He said it was a nightmare.
“A week or two after that they took off my right leg,” he said.
“The left leg they repaired but it was in a terrible condition – they stapled it back together with eight or nine steel pins.”
His left lower leg was amputated in 2011.
With two prosthetic legs and a steel plate holding his spine together, Mr Greyling said he is constant pain.
Since the accident his memory is scrappy and he forgets things.
He remembers very little about the accident that turned his world upside down and nearly cost him his life.
“From work I actually went into a diabetic coma and I can’t remember – I drove all the way from Mulgrave right through Narre Warren, Beaconsfield, Berwick, Pakenham and onwards without touching anyone,” he said.
“Thank God – I cannot remember that trip at all. Period.”
Mr Greyling said it was fortunate that he drifted off the road and didn’t cause a collision with any other drivers.
“Observers at the time witnessed me drifting off the road – I think 80-90 km per hour or whatever it was,” he said.
“I am thankful I didn’t hurt anyone else. That’s all I can say about that.”
When asked if he feels lucky to have survived the horror crash, he said that he was more lucky he didn’t kill anyone else.
It has been a rough ride for Mr Greyling since the crash as he slowly put his life back together.
The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) had paid him reduced loss of earnings payments while he worked part-time as a machinist.
Those payments were stopped in March 2012, a year after he was made redundant and while he continued to look for suitable work.
Acting on behalf of Mr Greyling, Dandenong Slater and Gordon lawyer Katerina Patras said it was a great success that the TAC was recently forced to reinstate his loss of earning payments.
“We didn’t want to back down, we wanted to make sure Jonathon got what he was entitled to,” she said.
Mr Greyling said Slater and Gordon achieved the near impossible and that he couldn’t thank the company enough for what it had done for him.
Motor vehicle accident lawyer Allan Macrae said common sense had prevailed.
“The TAC should never have taken Jonathan’s payments away in the first place,” he said.
“Jonathan continued to work as long as he could, but it is no longer possible for him to work because of his injuries.
“He is in constant pain and struggles to walk.”
A spokesperson for the TAC said that following a medical assessment in March last year, the TAC was advised that Mr Greyling had the capacity to return to work and therefore he was no longer entitled to income support compensation.
“A dispute application was lodged in relation to this decision and further information and reports were provided to the TAC about Mr Greyling’s situation,” the spokesperson said.
“As a result of this further information, the TAC has subsequently backpaid Mr Greyling’s loss of earnings payments to May 2012.
“This back payment was paid to Mr Greyling in January and he will continue to receive the regular income payments he is entitled to.”
