LEFT without her right arm after a crash, driving teacher Carolyn Wright had a simple response when her teenage son asked if she wanted to return to work – 'my oath'.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The boss of Border business From L's to P's Driver Training was motoring along the Olympic Highway when trouble struck near Five Mates Crossing bridge at Table Top late on the afternoon of September 3.
"It was just driver fatigue – one minute you're on the road, the next minute you're off," her husband and well-known Albury football umpire Ken Wright said.
"She hit a tree and rolled."
Wagga spray painter Brad Borserio was first on the scene, with dust still rising from the wreck of Mrs Wright's white Suzuki Swift marked with company livery.
"I jumped out of my car and ran up to the car and woke her up and kept her calm," Mr Borserio, 28, said.
"She was in a seatbelt hanging upside down when I found her.
"I had to break the dashboard away to get her feet free and then I undid the seatbelt."
Mrs Wright went to Albury hospital before being flown to Melbourne where she has undergone six operations.
Mr Wright was the chances of her keeping her right arm were slim.
"They were worried about the right arm and they lifted up the left hand and you could see that had a colour in it and the right hand was grey," Mr Wright said.
"She had severed her main artery to her hand and they showed me an x-ray and...it was dangling like a cord."
A second operation ended with Mrs Wright losing her arm, but Mr Wright said the chances of a prosthetic limb being successfully attached were good.
He hopes Mrs Wright will be in an Albury hospital for her birthday on October 13.
On Wednesday, son Benjamin, 16, asked about returning to the business she has operated for two years.
"Benjamin did say to her, at her bedside, 'mum do you want to get back to work?' and she said 'my oath I do', so that was a really positive step," Mr Wright said.
"I have to find a driver and that's my aim to find a driver, so he can continue the business while Caroline is recuperating."
To help Mr Wright phone 0402 053 572.
