To Hell and Back: Bradley Skidmore’s documentary inspired by cyclist Liam Edwards survival
Shepparton’s Liam Edwards survived a car crash last year and went on to win a national cycling title. Now, his childhood friend Bradley Skidmore has made a documentary about his inspiring journey for his final studies.
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Shepparton’s Liam Edwards can barely remember the car accident which nearly took his life on October 19 last year.
What he can recall is having his car on cruise control while driving from Violet Town to Shepparton when his car suddenly flipped.
He was told it rolled three times before colliding with a tree.
The then 19-year-old emerged from the wreckage, and was flown to the Alfred with serious injuries.
He was lucky not to lose his life; instead, he lost four fingers on his right hand.
However, the avid-cyclist didn’t lose his will to live out his racing dreams.
He got back on his bike, and only four months after the accident, won the para-cycling division of the Australian National Road Race Championships in Ballarat.
For his childhood cycling friend Bradley Skidmore, it was the perfect story.
“Had his whole career ahead of him – he was in a team, he was going strong,” Bradley said.
“The next thing he knows, he’s fighting for his life.
“Then he got back on his bike because of sheer determination.”
The 18-year-old remembered when the devastating accident happened, and said the only glimmer of hope was the fact his friend came out of the wreckage alive.
“We’ve seen our friends go into hospital with concussions because of cycling,” Bradley said.
“But we don’t think about crashing in cars.
“I was just speechless.”
Months later, when life had gotten back to some sort of normal, Bradley was struggling coming up with an idea for his VCE Media assignment.
The St Mary of the Angels Secondary College in Nathalia year 12 student realised Liam’s experience would be the perfect narrative for his documentary, but was sweating bullets at the thought of asking his mate to be the subject.
“I’m a very shy person,” Bradley said.
“Even though I’ve known him for that long, it’s terrifying for me to say: can I make you relive it?”
He summoned the courage and asked Liam, to which Liam said yes without a moment’s hesitation.
“Telling my story from my end was still pretty raw as it was under a year since it happened,” Liam said.
“You have to relive and dwell on the feelings,” he said.
“But I was fully 100 per cent in with it.”
After interviewing Liam and Liam’s emotional parents, and spending hours at the editing desk, Bradley’s 10-minute film called To Hell and Back was finished after about six months – to immediate rave reviews.
“I was so speechless and in awe about how much people enjoy it,” he said.
“I think people like the message, which is you can get up, and win.”
And while he hasn’t gotten his mark back yet, it doesn’t matter, because it has gotten the tick of approval from the most important person.
“The way he edited it was perfect,” Liam said.
“It’s great to have my story out there.”
As for what’s next for the pair, Bradley hopes to study sports science next year, while honing his videography skills on the side.
Liam had plans on joining the police force, which might be compromised because of his hand.
But in the meantime, he’s got his sights set on the next race in January (if COVID-19 allows it), and hopes to snag a national title.
“I’m going to really train up for that and hopefully try and get into the top 10,” he said.
“I’m coming a long way – every week I’m getting more and more strength.
“Anything’s possible, and nationals is the next goal.”
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