In late November 2013 Keely Adams was travelling with her partner Matthew Shaw in a taxi along Stanbridge Road in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire when they spotted an upturned car in the middle of the road. They immediately stopped and went to help the screaming couple trapped inside. What happened next is a tragedy that could have been avoided. Keely saw a lorry travelling at speed towards her, she said ‘I noticed two big white lights coming towards me. I shook my phone from side to side, hoping the driver would see the light. I realised he wasn’t going to stop – he didn’t even slow down. I started to run towards the grass verge but tripped or fell. I felt two impacts as he went over my leg. I was fully conscious the whole time. There was silence and then I started shouting that he’d hit me.’ This moment of heroism cost Keely her leg and has had a dramatic effect on her life and livelihood
The 18 ton HGV had ran over her right leg, causing so much damage that it had to be amputated below the knee. The driver has never been found. Keely has undergone 9 operations and 7 blood transfusions to date and thanks the Luton & Dunstable and Stoke Mandeville Hospitals for the wonderful care they gave her.
In those few seconds, the life as she knew it was torn away from her but despite that, Keely has no regrets about going to help. Brave Keely desperately needs our support now. Not only must her home must be renovated in order to suit her new needs but her income has been severely affected by the accident. Despite her employers holding her job open for her, shockingly she is only currently entitled to Statutory Sick Pay until she returns to work as her injuries are not deemed serious enough by the DWP to prevent her from working. Nerve damage to the leg could take months if not years to heal before a prosthetic can be considered and she needs time to come to terms with her new circumstances and indeed, grieve for her lost life before being pushed back into work.
Her friend Stephanie Rogers has set up this Go Fund Me account to raise money to help Keely and is hosting fund-raising events, please help if you can and spread the word.
This video of Keely shows her telling her story in her own words and appealing for to the driver to come forward. Were the driver to be found, criminal proceedings could proceed and Keely would be entitled to compensation from his insurance company. I would love Twitter to use its remarkable powers to #FindTheDriver as somebody somewhere knows who he is. Anyone with information about the accident or the lorry driver should contact PC John Speers of the Beds roads policing unit on the 101 non-emergency number.
Keely with Matthew at a wedding before the accident that changed their lives.
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