Evelyn Ellul’s life in limbo months after brave girl struck by truck while crossing street in pram

The little girl who was placed in a seven-day induced coma after being hit by a truck is up and running around but her family fear the impacts from the traumatic event will linger.

Three-year-old Evelyn Bayliss at her Browns Plains home. Picture: Richard Walker

The future of a little girl hit by a truck while being pushed in a pram across a pedestrian cross walk remains unclear, her mother has revealed.

Three-year-old Evelyn Ellul was left with a brain injury and was in a coma for seven days after the refrigerator truck hit her as she crossed the road at lights on the corner of Browns Plains Rd and Webber Dr at Browns Plains on the morning of April 18.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the incident, Evelyn’s mum, Tori Lee Ellul, detailed the horrifying incident.

“We were going to the pharmacy in the morning, and we had the green crossing and I don’t know if the driver saw the red light.” Ms Ellul said.

The duo had just stepped off the path onto Webber road when the truck came flying through the crosswalk.

Ms Ellul was unable to pull the pram back in time and watch in horror as her little one was collected by the vehicle.

“I quickly went to the pram and grabbed her out and then he [the driver] pulled over and popped out of his truck,” she remembers.

“I screamed, ‘Call an ambulance, call an ambulance’, he didn’t call an ambulance.

“I thought she stopped breathing.”

The truck that had allegedly hit Evelyn while in the pram crossing the road with her mother Tori on April 18. Photo: David Clark

Ms Ellul said Evelyn had a seizure in the ambulance on the way to the Queensland Children’s Hospital and was rushed into surgery in a critical condition with serious head injuries.

“She had a brain injury. She was in a coma for seven days. I pretty much didn’t leave her side, I was in the hospital all the time she was in there,” Ms Ellul said.

The terrifying incident has also impacted Evelyn’s nine-year-old brother Layne, who was too scared to visit his injured sister in hospital.

“He was a bit shocked. He didn’t want to go anywhere near her,” Ms Ellul said.

“We were trying to tell him it’s OK.”

Almost seven months on, Ms Ellul says she too is still traumatised from the event and that while Evelyn is back running around their yard she has a long road ahead.

“We are more on edge now if she falls,” Ms Ellul said.

“They (rehabilitation staff) are working on her strength with hydro, and she has OTs working on her hand co-ordination and speech is working on her language.

“We are a bit more pleased, she has gone back to a bit more normal, being herself … She has a little bit more of mood swings than before the accident,” she said.

Ms Ellul said doctors were still unsure if Evelyn will have permanent learning disabilities.

Three-year-old Evelyn Bayliss at her Browns Plains home, Thursday, October 31, 2024 - Picture: Richard Walker

“We won’t know if she has a learning disability until she goes to school. We do worry that she might have one,” she said.

A Queensland Police spokesman said investigations are ongoing in relation to the event and no further information is available at this time.