Bourke St hero holds ‘little miracle’ one year after tragedy

MARC Richardson has tracked the progress of the little boy named after him, from the dreadful moment in the CBD a year ago when he rushed to help a pregnant woman who lay broken and dazed.

MARC Richardson has tracked the progress of the little boy named after him, from the dreadful moment in the CBD a year ago when he rushed to help a pregnant woman who lay broken and dazed.

BOURKE ST RESCUERS SPEAK OF THEIR BOND

BOURKE ST SURVIVOR LOOKING AHEAD ONE YEAR ON

BOURKE ST RAMPAGE SURVIVORS RECALL HORRORS OF THAT DAY

She had no hope of avoiding the runaway car during the Bourke St tragedy on January 20. She suffered a broken pelvis after a dirty Commodore tossed her into the air.

She was convulsing when Mr Richardson, an operations manager, reached her first. Aided by another stranger, Kristy Moore, who works for a nearby insurance firm, Richardson tended to the woman, who was 14 weeks’ pregnant.

He held her and rang her husband. In following weeks, there were choked phone calls of thanks and hospital visits.

Out of horror bloomed the sweetest of friendships.

When the little boy was born — at just 24 weeks — he was given Marc as his second name.

Four and a half months later, when the boy was finally off a ventilator and allowed to go home, a party was thrown to honour Mr Richardson and Ms Moore, the strangers as saviours.

Again, there were tears. The mother could not find words to express her gratitude.

“It was very emotional,” Mr Richardson now says. “The whole family was there, lots of aunts and uncles. And there were lots of smiles.”

The mother has sought privacy since her ordeal, and does not want to be publicly named.

Bourke St rescuer Marc Richardson with the baby boy born to the woman he helped during the tragedy.

Her battle continues, after more than six months of last year in hospital.

She needed screws for her broken pelvis, a delicate procedure given her pregnancy.

She had to wait four days for the surgery in intense pain.

Her husband was forced to endure hours of waiting on the day of the tragedy, uncertain whether their unborn baby had survived the trauma.

Of her boy’s premature birth, she was warned that he may not survive or may grow up with a disability.

He was so little, she says, that she “was too scared to hold him for the first two weeks”.

Twelve months after the Bourke St tragedy, however, she is optimistic about the future.

Her son is doing better by the day.

She attends rehabilitation, physiotherapy and counselling. Her son’s growth is delayed by about three months — he is eight months old now, and the size of a five-month-old.

Last week, the mother sent Mr Richardson fresh photos of her son, all “chubby cheeks and a smile on his face”. The families expect to remain in close contact.

She is moved by those “great people out there who put everything down to help others”.

They did so much to calm victims, she says, despite grappling with their own shock.

She now has “a story to tell my children in the future”.

A positive story about good friends.

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