Balaklava woman Vicki Smith on how a pair of shoes saved her life

Vicki Smith was told by her doctor she wouldn't be alive if it wasn’t for her choice of footwear.

Vicki Smith was told her Crocs probably saved her life. Picture: Emma Brasier

Vicki Smith may be one of the few people who can say that a croc saved her life – two of them, in fact.

Before retiring in 2020 as a school canteen manager, the 65-year-old Balaklava resident spent 16 years living in an Alice Springs caravan park with her husband Gary.

“We moved to Alice Springs basically for the lifestyle and we found jobs pretty quickly as well.”

On May 28, 2016, Mrs Smith woke up on a dusky Northern Territory morning to find the porch light on her caravan wasn’t working.

She was expecting to give her grandson a call for his birthday in a couple of hours, but now remembers the day for a whole other reason.

“I knocked on the caravan door to get my husband to come out, but being a determined sort of woman I decided to have a look myself.”

She was fiddling around with the power outlet when she pressed the surge button and felt a strong, sudden “zap”.

Balaklava resident Vicki Smith was told her choice of footwear saved her life. Picture: Emma Brasier

“I touched the switch and the whole thing just went bang, it probably pushed me back about six feet,” Mrs Smith said.

“I had a pretty sore thumb, but after about 20 minutes I said I wasn’t feeling the best, so the hubby drove me up to the hospital straight away.”

Having suffered electrical shock, Mrs Smith spent four days in Alice Springs Hospital for observation.

“Because it affected my heart, they wanted to monitor it,” Mrs Smith said.

“In your heart there’s something called troponin, which helps regulate your bloodstream.

“That night, mine was 602 and it’s meant to be under 200.

“The doctor said to me if it doesn’t come down to 200 by the morning, you’ll be flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital straight away … I hate doctors so that was enough to get me on the mend.”

The attending doctor told her that the rubber soles of her Crocs acted as a ground for the electrical current and if she wasn’t wearing them would almost certainly have died.

“The doctor said if I didn’t have the Crocs on, I wouldn’t be here because it was a fair jolt.”

Mrs Smith is sharing her story for the first time after reading a recent article about the shoes.

She does not currently own a pair of Crocs and has experienced no long-term health issues – although concedes the experience “wasn’t too flash”.

Originally published as Balaklava woman Vicki Smith on how a pair of shoes saved her life