A month after being knocked to the ground by a cyclist when she stepped out of a Richmond shop, Barbara Barker still has the bruises on her face and the lingering effects of concussion.
Still angry it happened and in shock at the time, the 70-year-old also remembers members of the community rallying around her while she waited for an ambulance - and the lotto ticket she was given and has yet to check.
“The people on the street were absolutely marvellous - I couldn’t say enough for them, they were just so brilliant. Night ‘n Day staff were fantastic too – they gave me a lotto ticket and said I was one lucky person.”
Barbara had just walked out of a shop when a cyclist riding on the footpath hit her.
“I was thrown into the air and landed on my head,” she remembers. “He said ‘sorry, I shouldn’t have been going so fast’, and he had his headphones on.
“At the time I was so angry because it was an accident that shouldn’t have happened.”
She was told the cyclist was a teenager and weaving between people on the footpath and says it’s timely for parents and schools to remind youngsters why they should not ride on footpaths.
Barbara was sent home with instructions for complete bed rest and medication, but she was in agony and returned to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with concussion and given stronger medication.
“When you’re a bit older, your body takes such a big hit and it takes a long time to recover.”
She still is not driving far because concentration is difficult and she gets headaches. For a month now, she has not been working on the family’s Stanley Brook farm, and she says it’s a busy time of year to be out of action.
As for the lotto ticket, she has not been back to Richmond yet to see if she got lucky.
