Writing is ideal therapy for Andrew

ANDREW with his book and his son Jordan (14)

WHEN Andrew Ditchett woke up in Australia after two weeks in a coma he thought he had been in a speedboat accident and his family wanted him dead.

But the 34-year-old had been hallucinating after sustaining horrific injuries in a car crash.

Now he has chronicled his terrifying dreams in the book “Trauma Down Under” which people can buy on-line.

Andrew, of Berkeley Street, Royton, was on a four-week family holiday to Melbourne and the Gold Coast in 2005 when the nightmare happened.

He flew out with partner Penny, their daughter Paige (9) and Penny’s two children Jordan (14) and Claire (17), to find out more about the country they hoped to emigrate to.

They has been staying with Penny’s brother Robert, in Melbourne, when the crash occured.

The families has been travelling in two vehicles to the beach resort Lakes Entrance when the Jeep that Andrew, Jordan, Robert and his son, William, were in overturned.

Robert was driving and Andrew, who works at Royton firm 3663, recalled: “A couple of miles from there we just lost control.

“I was looking out of the window and we were heading towards a big tree.

“We hit it at about 52mph (85km) which took me out of the vehicle. I am very lucky there was a paramedic behind us going to the same place.”

Andrew suffered a broken shin and thigh, a smashed pelvis and broke about 10 ribs, puncturing his spleen and lung.

He also sustained a brain injury and bruised kidney, and a severed artery causing multiple strokes.

William also suffered several broken bones and a fractured skull, while Robert and Jordan escaped uninjured.

A surgeon was flown from Melbourne to operate on Andrew, who was then airlifted to a hospital.

However, while in an induced coma, he suffered hallucinations in which he believed that he had been in a speedboat accident, caused by him being over the limit, and that his family wanted him dead.

He explained: “It was the most frightening experience of my life. When I came out of it I was so relieved none of it had happened.

“Unfortunately, I remember it all, a lot of people (in a coma) do not. It was just so vivid and real.”

Andrew, who underwent 10 weeks of rehabilitation, believes the hallucinations were caused by the drugs and strokes.

He was off work for a year and decided to write the story of his hallucinations, despite his injures leaving him unable to read quickly.

Andrew explained: “It helped me to forget some of the bad things that happened. I was having nightmares about it, but writing it down was like putting it to one side.

“The book is not all doom and gloom. There are some comedy moments, and from my point of view it all really happened.”

“Trauma Down Under” is available on www.amazon.com