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NATHAN O'Brien can’t wait to get back to life in Bendigo after a dirt bike accident almost claimed his life a month ago.
The 18-year-old, who spent 12 days in a coma and almost a month at The Alfred hospital in total, began rehabilitation at Bendigo’s Health’s Anne Caudle centre this week.
The accident which almost killed him happened during a practice day at a Ravenswood motocross event on March 29.
Nathan says it was his first time around the track.
“My first day, first ride, I went up around the bend, then the first jump and I was off,” he said.
"I could have jumped and landed 100 different ways and it wouldn't have happened.
"I just remember going over a jump, the back wheel ran into the top of it and I hit the ground.
"That's pretty much it, then it's just black."
What happened after that can be pieced together from things other members of his family witnessed at the track and emergency services.
His older brother Adam, who also was taking part in the race and not far behind, immediately cleared an area around Nathan and stopped the race; a spectator who said she was a nurse rushed over and administered first-aid; someone called Triple 0 and ambulances arrived.
Nathan was first transported in a critical condition to Bendigo Health and then later that day to The Alfred hospital via an air ambulance.
Mum Trudy said the accident was horrifying not the least because it was his first time around the track and she hadn't wanted him to take part.
"He’s a good kid, he doesn't do alcohol drugs, he just wanted to ride his bike," she said.
"I didn't want him to do it, he was calling me a sook.
“I couldn't watch, and the next minute Nathan didn't even get around the track.
"It was awful. We just thought he had a couple of broken bones... but then he started to deteriorate right in front of us. It wasn’t good at all. It was scary."
Nathan’s 28-year-old brother Adam was one of the first at the scene of the accident.
"I managed to stop people. I thought a bike might have landed on him," he said.
“He was out cold for two or three minutes. Then he came to, and didn't know who he was."
Adam said it was traumatic watching his little brother come in and out of consciousness in those moments.
"I will never get on a motocross track again because of the trauma of seeing that," he said.
Adam said he and Nathan shared a love of bikes and the pair had been getting ready for the motocross practice ride for about 12 months.
"He's a family kid who loves going up the river, and we love motorbikes," he said.
"Our first ride together was out in a paddock.
"Never in a million years did we ever think anything like that would happen."
Once in Melbourne, the seriousness of Nathan's condition became more and more apparant to the rest of the family, with injuries including a major tear in one of his lungs and five broken ribs among others.
"He’s got 10 broken bones, he ended up going into an induced coma.They didn’t think he was going to make it, he nearly died," Trudy said.
Trudy and Nathan's dad Mick spent six anxious nights on the ICU ward by Nathan’s side.
"The first six days were traumatic, it’s hard to watch your son fight for his life,” Trudy said.
"This is not the first time we’ve sat by his bedside."
She said Nathan, who was born at premature at 15 weeks and weighed just 686 grams, came close to death as a baby too.
"We had a phone call a few days after he was born saying he had a lung hemorrhage," she said.
"We were so happy when we found out he was going to pull through."
Trudy said watching Nathan fight for his life again was "like déjà vu but 18 years later".
“The first six days we couldn’t be told much, just he’s very sick,” she said.
“Another nurse told us that on a scale of one to 10, he was one, with one being the worst.”
She remembers day six as being the day he “really fought”.
“On the sixth day I asked the doctor if he would pull through. It was the first day I got some indication the answer might be closer to yes,” she said.
While he woke up 12 days into the coma, Trudy said Nathan was very grogy for a few days and the real turning point, when they knew he was going to be okay, wasn’t until the 16-day mark.
Then last week came the news he could be transferred back to Bendigo Health.
"He just came back to Bendigo on Friday (last week)," she said.
"Because of the injuries he had, the doctors were just amazed at his recovery.
"They were calling him a ‘miracle boy’ down there (at The Alfred)."
Trudy said watching her son come close to death twice had taught her that recovery was about learning "two steps forward, one step back".
But she said her family had a lot to be grateful for and wanted to thank those who had helped save his life this time around.
"I can’t thank the Bendigo hospital enough and The Alfred hospital enough for saving him, I mean really, they saved his life," she said.
"We’re proud of our boy."
Nathan said he was pleased to be one step closer to normality and home, but probably wouldn't consider getting back on a dirt bike anytime soon.
"It’s been a long month, I’m glad to go home, I'm sick of hospitals,” he said.
"I will miss it, but I won’t get back on the bike."