Jen Olver was starting her usual commute to work when a car allegedly ran a red light and hit her at a Brookvale intersection. Now the single mother is barely mobile and off work, while still trying to make ends meet.
Emergency services were called to the intersection of Cross Street and Pittwater Road at 7.30am on Monday 3 August after reports that a woman had been hit by a car. The 49-year-old was crossing the road when a blue MG3 struck her at about 40 km/h. She was thrown onto the bonnet and windscreen, then several metres back onto the road.
“It feels so surreal to be able to say I got hit by a car. I still can’t really comprehend that it’s happened. I do feel so grateful and lucky to be alive and to be here with my son,” Jen told Manly Observer from her back porch, her leg in a brace, ahead of another surgery next week.
The Brookvale local was barely 100 metres from her apartment when she was hit. She was taken to hospital with head lacerations, a dislocated knee and a shattered ankle. The 80-year-old driver was assessed at the scene and returned a negative breath test. The incident is still subject to police investigation.
More than two months on, life has yet to ease up. Made redundant last year, Jen now works on a two-year contract with no sick leave, so she has had no income since the accident. She has just had her third surgery, which makes caring for her nine-year-old son Jasper and her young dog, Charlie Buttons, close to impossible.
Her parents have stepped in to help. But her father is nursing an injured ACL, making getting Jen up and down the stairs to her first-floor apartment hard on them both.
“I’ve completely lost my ability to do anything really. I’ve been very lucky. My parents just live at [Dee Why], so they’ve basically been here, helping me with school drop-offs, cooking the dinners, getting me to appointments, helping me get up and down the stairs,” Jen said.
“Just the load that it’s put on my parents is hard because I know that they’re struggling as well. And it’s been quite challenging to lose my independence.”
Losing her independence has been devastating. But it has also brought her family and the wider community to her side. Her friend Kate Mirabito set up a GoFundMe to help the family through the financial strain of the next few months.
The page has already raised about half its $10,000 goal. Jen said the money so far has been “amazing” and is already easing the pressure.
“I’m not going to be able to work the same hours that I was working before. So it’s really just going to help me be able to focus on getting better and taking the stress off, you know, paying the mortgage and supporting my son,” she said.
Her physical wounds have started to heal, but the psychological trauma is a different story. Jen has begun remote counselling. She recalls that after the impact, the only thing she could see when she looked up was a tree she knew well from six and a half years of living in the apartment.
At first it was a comfort, telling her she knew where she was. Now it has the opposite effect, bringing back that day every time she comes home.
Having done everything right and still been hit, she says it will take time to rebuild her trust in crossing the road, for herself and her son.
“I’m always saying to [Jasper], you’ve got to make sure you check before you step off the kerb. So it’s just crazy that this has happened because I checked and it still happened,” Jen said.
“I’m going to need to do a lot of work around being able to cross the road again, especially at that intersection.”
If you like to donate to Jen and Jasper, you can do so here.
