One punch victim fighting for awareness after lucky escape from serious injury

Two and a half months ago, Tim Blakey was struck on a night out on town, fracturing his skull and putting him in a coma for four days before he woke up in hospital. He is one of the lucky ones

University Rats NTFL team have signed on Stop! One Punch Can Kill as a sponsor from Tim Blakley and Jordy Meredith. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

TWO and a half months ago, Tim Blakey was struck on a night out on town, putting him in a coma for four days before he woke up in hospital.

While he doesn’t remember the incident which fractured his skull on August 9, Mr Blakey still faces ramifications of the incident, unable to drive for six months or pull on the footy boots for his local footy club.

But it could have been much worse.

“I don’t remember anything from probably about five or six hours beforehand to a week or two later,” MR Blakey said.

“I went in an ambulance from the city to the hospital and then once I was at the hospital I had a pretty long seizure and I was in ICU for four or five days and after that I was in the ward at the hospital until I could remember what was going on.

“All up it was about two and a half weeks.”

Mr Blakey’s skull fracture also allowed his brain the room it needed to deal with swelling from the blow.

He was one of the lucky ones with only minor health ramifications and no memory of the incident but has learnt a lot through the organisation Stop! One Punch Can Kill since the incident.

“I don’t remember anything from probably about five or six hours beforehand to a week or two later,” he said.

“I didn’t even know how bad and how quickly you can damage your brain just by falling over.

“The only thing that’s changed is a lot of people think they’re invincible in a lot of ways, even small things like falling over badly can really mess you up so a punch can never actually be good in the long run.”

Mr Blakey’s friend Duncan McConnel, who is also and fellow committee member at the University Rats with Mr Blakey, said his friends incident prompted the club to get working and raise awareness within the NTFL, with the first ever Stop! One Punch Can Kill NTFL shield against Banks last Friday night.

“(We wanted) to do something for him and around it and bring a bit of focus or attention to the problem so we approached the guys at Stop! One Punch Can Kill and asked if they’d be interested in getting their message out and they were very keen to get involved,” Mr McConnel said.

“At one point it was a message about bringing in laws, now it's a simple one of whatever you do don’t lift your fists basically.”

Mr Blakey said it was important for the football club to be leading the charge given small scuffles can be seen on any ground across Australia.

“Even in footy there are plenty of people who are happy to punch on in the moment on the field to the face and that’s not good either,” he said.

Now cheering on from the sidelines, Mr Blakey considers himself lucky but is still confused about how he feels about the incident.

“It’s frustrating, of course it is but it’s not that bad in a way because, like I say, I’m pretty lucky compared to others,” he said.

“I don’t have any problems with my body or anything like that and I’ve passed all the tests so far for my brain. At the moment it’s just luck.”