Parents carry crash scars
Russell Robinson
February 17, 2007

" JOSIE was on a respirator, and they turned the machines off. And minutes later, everything just shut down and her heart stopped." With that, a distressed Carmel Calvi bade farewell to her teenage daughter, the sixth victim of Victoria's worst single-vehicle crash.

Yesterday, she reflected on those final hours, almost 12 months ago, in the intensive care unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. " I was in a daze," Carmel said. " It was like watching it on television. We said our goodbyes."

It will be a year tomorrow since six Mildura teenagers died after being struck by a car on a back road in Cardross, near Mildura. The group had been outside a house waiting for a cab that had been ordered by Josie Calvi -- the last call she made from her mobile phone.

Josie died 24 hours later after being flown by the Flying Doctor to Adelaide. Carmel Calvi, 45, had been told her daughter "was virtually brain-dead from the minute it happened, and her brain stem had died almost instantly". " I then had to give permission for them to turn off her life support," she recalled yesterday.

Carmel, who now carries with her the damaged bracelet Josie wore that night, suffers from depression and anxiety attacks. There are times when the mother of four thinks she can see her dead daughter around Mildura.

" After the crash I'd get panic attacks on Saturday nights and feel like my chest was closing up, especially after 9pm," she said. " This went on for months and months, and I still get panic attacks on Saturday nights. " I ring my children over and over. I feel that if I hang up the phone, something might happen to them."

Her trauma is similar to that experienced by the other victims' parents, some of whom have resorted to alcohol, anti-depressants and sleeping tablets to get through their days. Carmel remembers well the night of the crash, and how she was driven to the hospital after receiving a call from her former husband, Vince.

" There were kids everywhere, screaming and crying," she recalled. " I was asking around if anyone knew where Josie was, but no one knew. " I went into the hospital, and a nurse said that a girl had been brought in. " The nurse held up a silver bracelet and asked if it was my daughter's. " I said I wasn't sure, but she had one like it and it could be hers."

The bracelet did belong to Josie. Carmel was told her daughter had a serious head injury and would need to be taken to Adelaide. " I asked one of the doctors if Josie was going to be OK, and the doctor said no. This was as good as it was going to get," she said.
She accompanied Josie to Adelaide on the plane, where she was tightly strapped into the spare bed next to her unconscious
daughter.

" I was right next to Josie but I could not see her directly. " I could hear what was going on and they nearly lost her a couple of times on the plane," she said. " Even now I can feel that sensation of being trapped in that bed."

The day after her daughter's death, Carmel Calvi and her family drove back to Mildura. " I think I cried most of the way home," she said. " I remember that about 12 o'clock, I put the radio on, and the first thing that came on was the news that Josie had died."


Source: © 2007 Herald and Weekly Times AAP