Alcohol violence: Sally McKay’s plea to end senseless violence after son put in a coma

Gold Coast mum Sally McKay is close to vomiting every time she enters a hardware store. The sight of the tool used to viciously attack her son makes her stomach turn.

GOLD COAST mum Sally McKay is close to vomiting every time she enters a hardware store.

She isn’t sick, she just can’t stomach the sight of the tool used to viciously attack her son.

Now she is advocating for peace, and an end to senseless violence.

On April this year, Ms McKay received the call no mother could imagine.

Her son Christian was in critical condition and had suffered from a catastrophic brain injury after he had been hit in the head repeatedly by a crowbar.

Young father Christian McKay with his child before the incident that left him with at traumatic brain injury.

“I wasn’t told until they had flown him to Brisbane. They found skull embedded in his brain.

“I was told he wasn’t going to make it,” she said.

FULL DIGITAL ACCESS: JUST $5 A MONTH FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS

According to those there at the time the Gold Coast boy who was living in Bundaberg was injured when he had stepped in to break up a fight.

The heroic decision almost cost him his life.

MORE NEWS

Gold Coast Titans star David Fifita in bizarre arrest – then release

Gold Coast development: $125 million giant unit complex planned for Hope Island as Cafe D-Bah set for redevelopment

“I remember speaking to the doctor one day while Christian was in a coma, he explained that his brain was essentially made up of dead tissue, skull fragments and mush.

“I kept saying, lord please take me instead.”

Sally Mackay is speaking out against violence after her son was left with permanent brain damage following a vicious attack. Photo: Scott Powick

Because of COVID restrictions at the time Ms McKay only had an hour by her son each day.

Despite the horrific prognosis that Christian was likely to remain on life support, after two weeks he eventually came to.

Despite being under heavy sedation doctors saw their first sign of life, from there it was an uphill battle.

“I had been through four neurologists fighting for some hope, I started praying and didn’t stop for a week and a half,” Ms McKay said.

Christian McKay in hospital with a traumatic head injury. Doctors at the time advised that his life support be turned off.

Months later, after fighting pneumonia and a blood infection the young father has managed to walk again.

He continues his recovery on the Gold Coast as the family awaits the outcome of the court case following the attack.

“His right arm is still paralysed but he is a fighter, he fights every day but the one decision by the man who attacked him has changed the life of my whole family,” she said.

“I see similar violence on the God Coast every day and just picture what could have been.

“I can’t even look at a crowbar without seeing my son on a bed with tubes coming out of him.

“I want everyone to know that an act like this doesn’t just hit one person, it ruins dozens of lives. Nothing is worth that.”

Originally published as Alcohol violence: Sally McKay’s plea to end senseless violence after son put in a coma