Hannah Hussein: Bella Vista girl reunited with paramedics cycling crash

A 12-year-old girl has reunited with the paramedics who helped save her life after a horror crash at a state cycling competition. Read about her amazing recovery here.

Hannah Hussein cycling

A horror crash at a junior state cycling event, which saw a 12-year-old knocked unconscious for at least seven minutes, was “a scary time” for the girl and her family.

Bella Vista junior athlete Hannah Hussein, was flung off her bike while travelling about 45km/h when she clipped a competitor’s back wheel on her second lap of the NSW junior metro, country and open road cycling championships at Sutherland.

The crash saw the junior cyclist suffer a grade three concussion, torn shoulder ligaments, a fractured eye socket and perforated bowel.

After nine weeks of hospital stays and intense rehabilitation, Hannah is back on her bike and was recently reunited with the paramedics who came to her rescue.

First-year paramedic Harry Ryan and intensive care paramedic Emily Nawiesniak arrived on the scene within five minutes and immediately started treating her for suspected head injuries.

Hannah and her mother with two of the paramedics who took her to hospital, Emily Nawiesniak (far left) and Harry Ryan (far right).

Hannah shortly after arriving in hospital.

“It’s pretty humbling and it’s very rare that we get to see the end result of our patient’s treatment,” Mr Ryan said. “Just to know the impact we had was such a positive one, it’s very humbling.”

Ms Nawiesniak, who was travelling in the back with Hannah providing treatment and pain relief, also said she felt humbled to meet with Hannah after the accident.

Hannah as she neared the end of her time in hospital.

“Hannah was extremely sleepy due to her head injury and she was in a lot of pain, so I provided her with some pain relief and I just kept on talking to her for the whole journey to the hospital … just to make sure she felt comfortable,” she said.

“(Attending traumatic injury jobs) can be quite overwhelming … especially with the young age that Hannah was, you kind of think about what happens from here and what her life’s going to be like.”

When Hannah and her mother reunited with the paramedics they presented them with surprise gifts and cards.

Ms Hussein said the paramedics were calming and reassuring during “a very scary time”.

“They handled it so well and so professionally with such care, that it actually gave me great peace of mind, and calmed me right down,” Ms Hussein said. “I felt like I could really trust them with my daughter’s life.”

For her part, Hannah told the paramedics: “I just want to say thank you guys for helping.”