DWAYNE Gumbleton is a walking miracle.
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The 25-year-old from Forster is currently undergoing extensive rehabilitation after miraculously surviving a severe electrical shock on a job site earlier this year.
Dwayne was working as a trade’s assistant for a plumbing company and went to work just like any other day on Friday March 14.
But what appeared to be a normal day at work, soon took a turn for the worst.
Dwayne was installing a fire sprinkler system in the roof of the BaptistCare Kularoo Aged Care Facility’s administration building when he leant on an air conditioning duct and suddenly came into contact with live wires. Dwayne received a severe electrical surge and collapsed instantly.
A work mate noticed Dwayne and immediately rushed to his side to begin CPR. The man was assisted by other tradesmen as well as one of the centre’s nurses.
As the group frantically tried to revive Dwayne, the pressure proved too much for the ceiling and it gave way.
Dwayne fell through the roof but was thankfully met by paramedics at the bottom who rushed him into a waiting ambulance.
He was initially taken to Manning Base Hospital where he was stabilised before being airlifted to John Hunter Hospital.
Dwayne remained in an induced coma for four weeks and spent another month recovering at John Hunter before he was transferred to Rankin Park’s rehabilitation unit.
From there, it took about three weeks for Dwayne to regain his vision, months of physical rehab to learn how to walk and eat again as well as countless speech therapy sessions.
The accident left Dwayne with a hypoxic brain injury and short term memory loss.
He is currently at Forster Private Hospital undergoing rehab five days a week.
While Dwayne can’t remember the day of the accident, he knows that he’s lucky to be alive.
“I should be dead, I’m over the moon,” he said.
“I don’t remember anything, not even that day. I really want to know how and why it all happened. It’s really frustrating and overwhelming.
“But I know I just have to cope with it all and be positive otherwise I’ll break down.”
- Dwayne Gumbleton
After the accident and during his recovery, Priscilla, Dwayne’s partner of six years, has been a tower of support and has hardly left his side.
But while all her focus was on Dwayne’s recovery, Priscilla was also pregnant with their first child at the time of the accident. She worried Dwayne wouldn’t be well enough to be at the birth.
As Dwayne lay in a hospital bed in Rankin Park’s rehabilitation unit, Priscilla went into labour at John Hunter.
“My step dad ended up wheeling Dwayne into where we were so he could see Lilly,” Priscilla said.
“I was shaking when I got to hold her I was worried I wouldn’t have enough strength in my arms. She was so beautiful,” Dwayne said.
Lilly-Ann Rose was a healthy, bundle of joy and entered the world on Tuesday May 6.
Despite doctors initially telling Priscilla that Dwayne would be lucky to survive the accident and his fate would most likely be subjected to a wheelchair, he has somehow managed to prove them wrong.
Priscilla says if anything the experience has made her “thankful.”
“Doctors said he would be a vegetable,” she said.
“He was getting bad seizures when he was on life support and they weren’t sure he would ever walk.
“They (doctors) can’t believe he’s bounced back the way he has. They’ve said he’s improved so much in a short period of time and are amazed by his recovery.
“It’s made me thankful. He means a lot to me. I’m thankful to have him here.”
Dwayne and Priscilla said they have not heard anything about the investigations since the accident.
A Work Cover spokesperson confirmed that investigations were still on going.
Dwayne and Priscilla would like to thank the Great Lakes community for all the donations for Lilly-Ann Rose and all the support shown to them.