Matthew Bowles has told how he feels “lucky” his daughter is still alive after she suffered catastrophic injuries when she was hit by a car and dragged five metres before being crushed against a chipper. Sophie Bowles, 23, from Powys, Wales, was working as an HGV driver and highway maintenance operative – her dream job – when the crash happened on 13 July.
Father's shock
Matthew, who works at the same company as his daughter, was initially told that an ambulance had been called and it was expected Sophie had broken her leg. He said: “Obviously that wasn’t the case. It was a bit more serious than that. Initially there was a bit of shock, a bit of disbelief, then you're like, 'Ok, it’s a broken leg, we can deal with that.' Hopefully it is nothing more serious.”
Sophie was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where her parents met her. Matthew said: “It was at that point we realised it wasn’t a broken leg… it was a lot more. It was a tremendous shock. Absolutely mind-blowing. You see it on 24 Hours In A&E and you never even imagine you are going to be thrust into that situation. I can only liken it to being pushed out of an aeroplane without a parachute trying to figure out what the hell to do. It is like a bottomless pit.”
Catastrophic injuries
Doctors found that Sophie’s pelvis was broken in nine places and had internal bleeding, her right femur was shattered in half, her right hip was crushed, and she suffered nerve damage in her leg. She has spent time in intensive care and has undergone three major operations this month to fix her hip, femur, pelvis and sciatic nerve.
Matthew broke down in tears when asked whether her mental strength had surprised him. He said: “It is a bit of both. She is a strong girl, I expected some strength. But with what she has gone through… I think it still might hit yet. I am extremely proud of her, she is such a brave girl… sorry. It has knocked us all for six, I will be honest with you.”
Matthew said: “The surgeon who was absolutely outstanding said that it was the worst pelvic injury that she had ever seen in a surviving patient. I think we are lucky to still have her.”
Recovery and fundraising
Sophie will have to remain in hospital for several more weeks, and her family is uncertain what the future holds. Her father has set up a GoFundMe page to help with her recovery. He explained: “We know that Sophie is not going to have the quality of life that she had before this so we needed to get her a bigger room. Her room at the minute is very small; it is only just big enough for a bed to put in sideways. We decided that we needed to extend out to the garage and create a wet room so she can sit down and shower because she is not going to be able to shower. It is going to take years for her to get back to a point where she can function normally. It is a long road. We decided we needed to do something.”
He added: “I didn’t know where else to go and I thought a fundraiser would be the best place to start to get some funds together.”
Sophie initially did not want a fundraiser, Matthew said: “She is an extremely strong-minded and strong-willed girl, she is not going to let it beat her. But I think we are still in the very early stages of accepting what happened so she was initially dead set against us doing a fundraiser on GoFundMe because she said she didn’t need it. As the days have gone on she has realised she is not quite as well as she thought she was so she has agreed to it.”
Police statement
Gwent Police said: “We received a report of a road traffic collision on B4521 towards Abergavenny at around 5.25pm on Monday 13 July. Officers attended alongside paramedics from the Welsh Ambulance Service. The collision involved a pedestrian and a car; she remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition. This incident has been reported to the Health and Safety Executive for review.”
On the GoFundMe page, Matthew wrote: “Sophie is an extremely hard working woman and has helped so many people in her life. Any help is much appreciated.”
