A Hunter family’s life is in ruins because of a car crash that caused a woman to suffer multiple strokes and a rare disorder.
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Aberdare’s Renae Nichols, 41, suffered a stroke after the accident, which she described as terrifying.
Since then she’s had several other strokes, which caused her to suffer from a speech disorder called “foreign accent syndrome”.
This means that despite being born and bred in Cessnock, she speaks with an Irish accent.
The crash happened four years ago at Argenton when Ms Nichols was on her way home from work.
“I remember screaming, commando crawling out of the car and waiting for the emergency services,” Ms Nichols said.
The effects of the crash have made life extremely difficult for the single mother and her two children, 17-year-old Jessinta and 12-year-old Nikkita.
Their ordeal has led the kids to run a campaign to warn people to drive safely.
“You get all these people who think they’re invincible,” Jessinta said.
“It takes one second to ruin someone’s life.”
Jessinta said the family had “kept mum’s story silent for the past four years”, partly because of her wish for privacy.
“Watching her get worse every year, we need to bring awareness to this,” she said.
Nikkita said people should be careful when driving because serious accidents could “change a family’s life and stop people from working and not having the money to support their family”.
Ms Nichols was working two jobs and studying business at university when the accident happened.
Now she cannot work. The family is living off $400 a week in Centrelink payments.
Rent costs them $310 a week. Ms Nichols receives some maintenance payments from the children’s father, which helps them pay for food and bills.
Bureaucrats rejected Ms Nichols’ application to receive a disability pension, despite the fact she can’t walk or talk properly and can’t write.
Jessinta said doctors had warned that her mother could suffer a big stroke, which could end her life.
“We lived in fear, but it got to the point of ‘whatever’s around the corner, we’ll face it’,” Jessinta said.
Police confirmed the driver who caused the crash was charged with negligent driving. Ms Nichols said friends and family were “still quite angry with the other driver”.
“That’s fine, but I came to peace about it a long time ago,” she said.
Hunter highway patrol supervisor Senior Sergeant Tony Grace said: "When you’re behind the wheel, you must concentrate on driving".
“Driving should not be a distraction from everything else we do in the car,” he said.