Moreton Bay nurse Belinda Callaghan survives hit and run car accident

A brave nurse has relived the moment a stolen car smashed into her at traffic lights on Brisbane’s northside this week and how, by chance, she met the owner of the stolen vehicle next to her in a hospital bed.

Belinda Callaghan was five minutes from work on Monday morning when her life changed forever.

The Moreton Bay nurse, who works at Palm Lake Care, was stopped at a red light on the intersection of Deception Bay Road and Webster Road about 6am Monday when a stolen Toyota LandCriuser crashed into the back of her car, causing a nose-to-tail style crash before the driver fled the scene.

“I hardly remember anything … it’s all a blur to me,” she said.

“I remember being stopped at the red light and then all of a sudden I hear this loud bang and feel this impact.

“Then I hit my head on the steering wheel pretty hard.”

Belinda Callaghan was five minutes from work on Monday morning when her life changed forever. Picture: Supplied

Ms Callaghan said she was wavering in and out of consciousness and remembers witnesses trying to free her from her car.

“I could hear them yelling get her out and apparently I called my partner crying and he could hear everything that was happening,” she said.

“Apparently I hit my head really hard plus they did have me on some heavy medication for the pain.”

She was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a stable condition and diagnosed with a haematoma frontal lobe (bleeding on the brain), a sprain to the left hip, bruised ribs, a bruised stomach, and a black eye.

Doctors have told her she will be on crutches and will need some considerable time off work to recover.

“I feel incredibly grateful and lucky to be alive,” Ms Callaghan said.

“It really was a horrific accident and has left me traumatised and terrified. It’s been really hard but I’m doing okay.

“Two years ago I lost my 21-year-old son and I truly believe he was looking after me that day … I should have died from the impact.”

Belinda Callaghan was five minutes from work on Monday morning when her life changed forever. Picture: Supplied

In hospital Ms Callaghan and her partner made another discovery.

“It turns out the people next to me in hospital had their car stolen two days before my accident,” she said.

“I went in for an x-ray and my partner was talking with them and they discovered it was actually their stolen car which hit me.

“Another crazy coincidence was that it was a woman I work with who was in the car in front of me at the lights.”

Despite feeling grateful to survive, Ms Callaghan has a long road to recovery.

“When I first got in my partner’s car on the drive home from the hospital I couldn’t stop crying and I kept hearing the bang all over again … I can’t even imagine driving myself,” she said.

“My head is still really sore and I have constant headaches from hitting it.

“I’m in a lot of pain and am sore where the bruises are … I’m not sure when I’ll come off the crutches either.”

Police have since found the stolen LandCruiser, but no arrests have been made.

Investigations are ongoing.