Superfit father Christian Ashby brought back to life after suffering organ failure, broken bones, punctured lungs, shattered pelvis at hands of disqualified driver

UNCONSCIOUS with organs failing and countless bones broken, it was any wonder superfit father Christian Ashby was labelled “sickest in the hospital” as he clung to life after being hit by a disqualified driver.

Christian Ashby recovering at the Epworth Hospital in Richmond. Picture: David Caird

DR Simon Iles recalls clearly the moment he first met Christian Ashby.

As an intensive care specialist at Royal Melbourne Hospital, one of Victoria’s two major trauma centres, Dr Iles regularly treats the state’s most seriously injured.

But over the Easter weekend, 36-year-old Mr Ashby was sickest of them all.

“I’ll never forget when I first met him,” Dr Iles said.

“You sort of try and prioritise who your sickest patients are. It’s very fair to say Christian was the sickest patient.”

Unconscious with vital organs failing and countless bones broken, the superfit father of two from Ballarat was barely clinging to life.

Christian in hospital.

Christian had steel rods and screws in his spine.

Christian’s crumpled bike.

He was suffering catastrophic bleeding, punctured lungs, a ruptured kidney and shattered pelvis, among a host of other serious injuries.

His early prospects of survival were slim. By the time Mr Ashby’s family, including wife Karen and parents Pam and Damien, made it to his bedside in Parkville, they had been warned to prepare for the worst.

“We were praying for a miracle,” said Mrs Ashby, who met her husband 16 years ago while both were studying podiatry.

“We all waited in a family waiting room, petrified of the news each time the door opened.”

It 48 hours before doctors believed he had “turned the corner”.

Christian with his wife Karen. Picture: David Caird

HOW CHRISTIAN ENDED UP IN HOSPITAL

WHEN Mr Ashby took off for a pre-dawn bike ride on Good Friday, he left a note on the fridge for his sleeping family.

“Hope you slept well. Love. Be home 7.30am for hot cross buns! XX.”

The triathlete had planned 10 laps of Lake Wendouree before breakfast. A camping trip with his wife and their children, Eliza, 6, and Patrick, 3, was on the agenda three days later.

But less than an hour later after Mr Ashby wheeled his bike out of the garage, he had allegedly been hit by a disqualified driver, in an unregistered sedan, as he rounded the 6km lake for the umpteenth time in his decades of athletic training.

When Mr Ashby finally goes home this week — so far he has spent 108 days in three hospitals — he will be greeted by a big “Welcome Home Dad” poster, coloured with crayons by two very excited kids.

It’s a moment that has motivated Mr Ashby through a fortnight in an induced coma, 11 operations to rebuild his shattered body, and more than 70 days of painstaking rehabilitation.

“I have had times when I was not walking and I was in a wheelchair and thinking, is this it?

Is this what my life is going to be?” said Mr Ashby, whose weight dropped to 58kg after his time in intensive care.

Cyclist Christian Ashby, left fighting for his life following a hit run in Ballarat. Xrays Picture Supplied

“But I feel incredibly lucky to be seeing my wife and two kids again.

“It’s been a very hard road but I am just lucky to be alive.”

Hundreds of people can take credit in helping to save Mr Ashby’s life and rebuilding his body, starting with several anonymous strangers who first found Ms Ashby by the lake and called emergency services.

Then came the road and air paramedics, expert medical and surgical teams at Ballarat Base Hospital and the RMH, as well as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and neuropsychologists at Epworth Rehabilitation in Richmond.

He has spent up to six hours a day in various types of therapy.

Getting over post-traumatic amnesia, and the mental scars left by such a devastating event, has also been just as important as his ongoing physical recovery.

“I can’t thank everyone who has helped me enough,” Mr Ashby said.

When he first came under the care of physiotherapists Dr Gavin Williams and Michelle Kahn, Mr Ashby could neither stand nor sit, and needed to be hoisted out of bed.

Ms Kahn described the pain associated with Mr Ashby’s type of injuries as “torturous”.

Dr Williams said his “triathlete mentality” was helping in his recovery, which will continue for many more months at home.

Despite Mr Ashby’s incredible resolve, his capabilities have been greatly reduced.

“At the start, Christian’s right side was so weak he could hardly use it,” said Dr Williams, a leading neurological physiotherapist.

“The same work ethic that made him a good competitor has made him good at rehab.”

Christian Ashby with his two kids.

Christian’s leg after the accident.

The woman allegedly responsible for Mr Ashby’s accident, Rebekah Stewart, 23, has been charged with six offences, including negligent driving, dangerous driving causing serious injury, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and driving while disqualified.

She has been bailed to reappear at Ballarat Magistrates Court on August 11.

While the Ashbys say they were relieved when an arrest was made, they are “focusing on moving forward with our new life and thanking those who saved Christian’s life”.

They also want to thank their friends and family, as well as the Ballarat community, which organised fundraisers, and the police.

By speaking publicly about his ordeal, Mr Ashby wants people to think about cyclist safety and drivers’ attitudes.

“I want all road users to understand cyclists are real people with real lives and ­families to go home to, and that the consequences of being hit by a car can be catastrophic,” he said.

The man who used to cycle 300km, run 80km and swim 9km in a typical week has also dramatically revised his goals: “I just hope that one day I can jog next to my kids on their bikes.”

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