Lani puts pain of crash behind her to help educate others

It’s one thing to forgive the drink-driver who almost killed you and your daughter, but yet another to stand beside him to teach others the dangers of drink driving.

Lani Brereton nominated for a Pride of Australia award. She almost died in a horrific car crash with her daughter Indy (11). Picture: Josie Hayden

IT’S one thing to forgive the drink-driver who almost killed you and your daughter. It’s another to stand beside him to teach others the dangers of drink driving.

That’s what Lani Brereton plans to do when the man who put her in a 10-day coma gets out of prison.

It was an afternoon in December 2013 when Ms Brereton picked up her daughter, Indy, from her parents’ house.

They were making green smoothies when she loaded her nine-year-old into the back seat of her car to head home just 5km away.

When her mum and dad realised she had left her smoothie behind, they decided to drive the few minutes to her house to drop it off.

And as they passed through Mt Evelyn, they found their daughter’s car crushed, her and their granddaughter trapped inside.

Ms Brereton’s shattered body was loaded into an air ambulance.

She “died” on the way to hospital from massive head ­injuries but was revived by paramedics.

Friends and family took to social media to spread hope, taking photos of themselves making a heart symbol with their hands — a sign Ms Brereton often made to show love to those around her.

Eighteen months later, she is still recovering with further surgeries planned. The driver is in jail, facing a four-year sentence with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.

Ms Brereton will soon visit him in prison for the first time.

“I want to hug him,” she said of the man who almost claimed her life. “I want love to close the book on this crash.”

Ms Brereton has been nominated for the Courage Medal in the Pride of Australia awards.

[e-mail]