Brendan Simpkins

WILLASTON’S Neville Hughes has defied belief, walking away from a near death experience last fortnight with barely a scratch on him.

When cutting the grass at a friend’s property in Williamstown on Monday, November 2, the rollover protection system of the tractor he was driving clipped a low hanging tree branch and sent the vehicle into a spin.

It went down the embankment of a nearby creek and Mr Hughes was flung into the water, pinned underneath one of the tractors tyres at the hip.

He was lying face-up, however, the tyre had forced Mr Hughes’ hip to rotate and force his left leg up into his stomach.

A man of the Pentecostal faith with Cornerstone Church at Holden Hill, Mr Hughes prayed to God and gave his soul to him, accepting of the fact that could be it.

“I thought that’s it, I don’t get to say goodbye to my family and I’m here on my own because I didn’t think anybody could hear me,” he said.

“I prayed and prayed and then I started yelling (for) help.”

However, with the tractor’s engine still running, he managed to scream for help loud enough that Glenys Casboult could hear him from her living room 100 metres away.

Glenys and Beverly Maxwell were first responders on the scene, keeping Mr Hughes conscious and his head above water until emergency services arrived and he was airlifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) in an induced coma.

Police had advised Mr Hughes’ sister to get to the hospital as soon as possible fearing that he may have died on the flight.

All that Mr Hughes has to show for the incident is a few cuts and bruises and an injured big toe that was badly burnt from touching the tractor’s engine.

He had no broken bones or internal injuries, amazing doctors at the RAH.

More than two weeks later, he still gets emotional reliving the experience, attributing his faith to the reason he is still alive to tell his story.

“I believe in miracles, I have heard of miracles but having been a recipient of such an event, the brain naturally is still not computing that ‘hey it shouldn’t be this way’,” he said.

“The weight of that tractor, the tyres wanting to engage, me underneath… and I couldn’t breathe much either.

“It took me a couple of days to get to terms with that.”

Mr Hughes has since returned to the scene of the accident to comprehend how it happened, and he still has flashbacks of the incident every now and again.

However, the accident has made Mr Hughes realise the important things in life, choosing not to dwell on trivial things and be thankful for every day.

“It has given me a brand new appreciation of everything,” he said.

Mr Hughes wished to thank everybody who came to his aid that day, from the first responders to the emergency service crews in helping through the ordeal and to God for his protection on the day.