The Star: March 14, 2024

The Star Thursday March 14 2024
14
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Frenchwoman reunites with spinal
unit carers 52 years after shock crash
Dominique Vallette’s ambitious goal of tracking
down Cantabrians who nursed her back to
health after she suffered spinal injuries in a car
accident in 1972 was fulfilled last week after her
appeal was publicised by The Star in January.
Chris Barclay witnessed an emotional reunion at
Burwood Hospital
MORE THAN half a century
elapsed, but Dominique Vallette
ultimately experienced the
South Island scenic destinations
on her itinerary after leaving
Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks
during the winter of 1972.
Then an 18-year-old on a
study trip from her temporary
home in New Caledonia, the
Frenchwoman’s travel plans went
awry when the Morris Mini
she was driving slid off a gravel
bend on the Haast Pass towards
Wanaka and plunged 60 metres
down a bank.
She was freed from the
wreckage and then endured
a watchful two-day trip to
Christchurch Hospital where she
spent three months in traction
with spinal injuries.
Vallette returned to New
Zealand last month for a sixweek
trip which enabled her
to take in Wanaka, Glenorchy,
Kinloch, Queenstown,
Arrowtown, Doubtful Sound,
Twizel and Aoraki Mt Cook.
“I’m glad I’ve seen them this
time, finally,” she said.
Yet Vallette’s favourite
recollection, the sight she
coveted above all others, was
witnessed inside the spinal unit
at Burwood Hospital.
Seeing the smiling faces of a
surgeon and staff who nursed
her in ward 13B, plus a woman
whose family accommodated
Vallette during convalescence,
was the truly unforgettable
memory.
“This is a celebration I’ve been
thinking of for many years. The
main purpose of the trip was to
come back to New Zealand to
try and find the kind
and talented people
without whom I
would never have
had a normal
life,” she said.
“There was
a team of
kindness and love around me,
really a family, and I never forgot
that.”
Her plan for a reunion reached
fruition last Thursday when she
hosted a gathering with surgeon
Dr Allan Bean, ward sister
Beth Spiers, nurse Sue Ryan
(née Osborne) and Rosemary
Kraushaar (née Doherty).
Once released from hospital,
she stayed with the Doherty
family, who learned of her plight
because a relative, amateur
(ham) radio operator Arnold
Dacombe, had contacted
Valette’s parents in Noumea
after the accident.
“There was the physical part of
MUSICAL DUO: Student nurse Sue Ryan (née Osborne)
and Vallette played music to raise the Frenchwoman’s
spirits.
it (hospital treatment) and for
the mental and spiritual part
of it I was always kept in very
high spirits by the Dohertys.
They were so kind and
patient,” she said.
While Rosemary was at
the function, her mother
Helen, now aged 93, also met
Vallette last week.
Vallette presented
her Canterbury
family with a
special
souvenir mug.
The same design, devised
by one of her three sons, was
framed and presented to the
unit, which relocated from
Christchurch Hospital in 1979.
“The fern is a symbol for New
Zealand, and it also looks like a
spine,” Vallette explained.
“It is also like a staircase
because I was on my way to
recovery, on my way up to
having a good life.”
The numbers represented the
year of the crash, the reunion
and 52 years of gratitude.
Before the afternoon tea Vallette
had a private consultation
with Bean, a junior member of
her treatment team.
“She is lucky she broke the
second lumbar vertebrae (L2)
rather than the first,” he said,
explaining damage to the L2
would not drastically impact on
the spinal cord.
Vallette suffered severe
bruising and nerve damage; she
was able to walk from hospital
with only a back brace for
support after avoiding life as a
paraplegic by millimetres.
“She’s very lucky it was below
L1. When it’s damaged it usually
crushes the spinal cord and she’d
probably be in a wheelchair.”
Now 90, still sharp and
living in a Wigram retirement
complex, Bean was told about
Vallette’s trip by another
resident.
A friend also alerted Ryan, a
student nurse whose rotation
coincided with Vallette’s
treatment.
“It was very confronting
(starting in the unit). I was quite
traumatised for the first week,
seeing these lovely
young people
coming into
the ward and
realising
what their
future was
going to be,”
she said.
So
Vallette’s positivity and
resilience was a welcome coping
mechanism.
“She was a perfect patient,
she was so relaxed. She was not
afraid of what might happen.
“We had a lovely rapport with
each other. It was a busy ward
so often I’d go after my shift and
spend time with her.
“I played a little bit of guitar
in those days so we’d play Cat
Stevens, Joni Mitchell, all those
songs.”
When, after three months
in traction, Vallette felt a
big toe twitch, doctors and
physiotherapists thought the
movement was a figment of a
hopeful imagination.
However, Ryan saw the wiggle
with her own eyes.
“It was so exciting, I could see
it. It proved the bruising and the
nerves were healing,” she said.
Ryan, who lives in Weedons,
lost touch after Vallette was
Dr Allan Bean and Vallette
at the reunion.
PHOTOS: CHRIS BARCLAY
CARE: Dominique
Vallette (top right)
reunited with
Sue Ryan (top
left), Rosemary
Kraushaar (front
left) and Beth
Spiers.
discharged so the get-together
was a pleasant surprise.
“I’m just thrilled. Dominique
stayed over the other night. We
just reminisced about old times.
We can’t believe 50 years have
gone by in a flash.”
Vallette, who turns 70 on May
1, started her trip in Auckland,
reached Wellington in two
days and then took the ferry
to Picton, her journey south
deliberately featuring another
drive through Haast Pass.
Although the road has been
modified since her accident,
Vallette easily identified her
crash scene.
“I found the precise place
where I left the road. It’s the
only place where there is that
kind of curve, not far from the
Makarora River,” she said.
There was no parking bay
in the vicinity so Vallette
was unable to stop to take a
photograph, though the bend is
clearly etched in her mind.
“I was driving and I
recognised it straight away, it
was near the end of the Haast
Pass. I think there were two
Americans who met their deaths
also in that precise place a few
years ago. The road is much
better now,” she said.
“It’s a sealed road which has
been widened and there’s a
railing on the ravine side.”
Vallette admitted there was
some anxiety as she headed
down the pass.
“I was quite anxious at first but
when I saw it (the crash scene) I
didn’t even feel a pang.
“I thought: ‘Well at least the
road is very secure now, it won’t
happen again’.”