Family thank emergency service volunteers and good Samaritans at special reunion in Williams

About 20 volunteer emergency service personnel gathered in Williams earlier this month to give Perth woman Kelly Willer and her family the opportunity to meet and thank them for saving her life. A head-on crash on Albany Highway near Arthur River on March 31 resulted in Ms Willer sustaining severe injuries and she was taken to Royal Perth Hospital by the RAC rescue helicopter in critical condition. “They saved me, that’s the bottom line and I want to say thanks,” Ms Willer said. “I can’t say thanks enough, they really did save me that night. “Without them, I wouldn’t be here.” Organised by Kelly’s father Gerard Healy, the special event drew volunteers and medical workers together from towns around the Wheatbelt and Great Southern including Katanning, Wagin, Narrogin, Collie, West Arthur and Williams. “It doesn’t happen very often, but here we are just over six months later putting faces to names,” Mr Healy said. The organisation of the special reunion began when Mr Healy travelled to Wagin to attend a football game between Wagin and Williams in an attempt to find the people who had saved his daughter’s life. “I thought it was pretty likely I’d meet someone there who knew someone,” he said. “It was something I wanted to do because if it hadn’t been for these people, we’d have been having a funeral. “All these people have lives, farms, they’re all busy people. “At 7.30 on a Friday night when you and I are kicking back, what are they doing — they’re ready to go.” Off-duty emergency doctor Niall Tuohy and his wife, emergency nurse Emily Happe, were travelling from Perth to Bremer Bay on the evening of the crash and came across the scene minutes after it had occurred. St John volunteers returning to Katanning following a patient transfer happened upon the crash soon after and they were able to provide assistance to volunteers from Williams, who were the first to arrive. Another group of St John volunteers arrived shortly after having received the call while attending a farewell function in Darkan and provided critical support alongside volunteers from Narrogin, Wagin and Collie emergency service groups. “They were all at the right place at the right time,” Ms Willer said. Ms Willer spent four weeks in an induced coma in ICU and, despite her husband Dave being told it was expected she would remain in ICU for six months, a determined Ms Willer was out in two and a half months. “I’m stubborn,” she said. “That’s what I put it down to, I can’t stay still.” Three and a half months after the accident, Ms Willer was working from home and is now back at work three days a week. “I need to get out of the house,” she said. “I’m a pretty active person.” The meeting in Williams was special for all involved. “Everybody knows that I’m thankful,” Ms Willer said. “Everybody was in the right place at the right time, I’m pretty lucky. “They’re all volunteers, they’re all workers, farmers, mothers, and they volunteer — it’s unreal.”