A young mum is lucky to be alive after she was struck by a massive tree which broke her neck in two places with doctors fearing she could have been paralysed.
Stevie Virtue, 30, was on her way home after picking her daughter Paityn up from school in Dingley Village in Melbourne‘s south-east last month.
The mum-of-two was walking back to her car when she was knocked to the ground by a huge tree on a nearby private property, which fell four metres onto her head.
The tree was uprooted by the strong winds that have lashed parts of Australia’s east coast, including Victoria and NSW in recent weeks.
Ms Virtue, who works as a hairdresser and disability support worker, shattered her her C3 and CV vertebrae and also suffered a concussion.
‘I remember the tree being on top of me. I remember crying and yelling at my daughter to go get [help]. It was terrifying,’ she told Yahoo.
Ms Virtue recalled being unable to move and fearing for her seven-year-old daughter’s life after a branch broke off and narrowly missed little girl by two seconds.
‘The lollipop lady came over and grabbed my arm and helped me half-crawl away from the tree so nothing else fell on top of me,’ Ms Virtue said.
Ms Virtue (pictured), who works as a hairdresser and disability support worker, shattered her her C3 and CV vertebrae and also suffered a concussion as a result of the horror incident
She was rushed to hospital, where doctors feared Ms Virtue could be paralysed.
Ms Virtue is now unable to move for next three months and has to wear a hard neck brace.
She said it could have been much worse and said it was a ‘one in a million’ chance that the tree didn’t land anywhere else on her body.
She was discharged from hospital a week after the horror incident.
She currently can’t work or look after her kids.
‘It’s an absolute nightmare. I’m not allowed to lift anything over a kilo, I feel useless,’ Ms Virtue said.
She also struggles to sleep and also cannot care for her elderly mother, who has a disability.
The mum-of-two was knocked to the ground by the huge tree (pictured), which fell on top of her head, as she was walking to her car
Close family friend Kelly Beverly has set up a GoFundMe page to help support the family financially.
‘This is understandably going to cause significant emotional and mental turmoil while she [Ms Virtue] takes this time to heal,’ Ms Beverly wrote.
‘It will also effect her partner, Addison, while he tries to maintain some routine and normality for the girls and support Stevie as much as possible’.
Proceeds will be used to help cover household expenses and help the family maintain their daily routines as much as possible.
In an updated shared on Monday Ms Beverly revealed that her friend has ongoing orthopaedic appointments.
‘This will require her to travel into the city which is not ideal when you have lost your independence to drive for 12 weeks,’ she wrote.
‘While she is struggling to adjust her normal busy lifestyle to a more suitable one for now, unfortunately, her body in other ways is showing her that she needs to slow down even further.
‘From pulled muscles and pain now radiating from different parts of her body, this is really defeating for her.
Ms Virtue (pictured far right) said she feared for her seven-year-old daughter Paityn’s (pictured centre) life after a branch broke off and narrowly missed her
A slow moving low pressure system brought about wild weather in recent days, with parts Victoria hit damaging wind gusts of up to 130km/h.
The destructive winds brought down trees and power lines, cutting off access to roads and power.
The weather system also brought about isolated showers to parts of South Australia and produced dangerous surf conditions along the east coast.