Former Olympic champion Jana Pittman has shared her relief after her mother miraculously escaped serious injury when her car flipped while travelling at 80km/h.
The Olympian-turned-doctor revealed the frightening incident on social media, explaining her mum Jackie had been on her way to help Jana with her six children when the crash occurred near the family’s home on the NSW Mid North Coast.
“Last night my beautiful mum was driving to help me with the kids and flipped her car at 80km/hr on Ghost road near our house,” Jana wrote.
“Somehow she walked out with only cuts and bruises.”
While the car was a write-off, Jackie’s escape was remarkably fortunate.
Jana said passing motorists and members of the local community stopped following the crash and helped her mother climb out through the rear of the damaged vehicle before an ambulance arrived.
The 43-year-old expressed her gratitude to those who came to Jackie’s aid, describing the incident as a sobering reminder of how suddenly life can change.
There was another extraordinary twist to the ordeal when Jackie was transported to Port Macquarie Base Hospital – the same hospital where her daughter works as a doctor specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology.
Jana praised hospital staff for being “so kind and swift” while assessing her mother.
“Just made me realise how quick life can change, how amazing my mum is, but also how lucky I am to live in this regional community!” she wrote.
The close call comes just months after Jana announced she and her six children were permanently leaving Sydney and making a new home in the Port Macquarie region.
After spending six months working at Port Macquarie Base Hospital, the former world champion hurdler decided the sea change would become permanent, settling into what she described as “hobby farm and beach life”.
And her mum was very much part of those plans.
“Mum moving with me and dad already in Old Bar so it’s just all falling into place,” Jana wrote when announcing the move earlier this year.
For Jana, whose life since retiring from elite sport has included becoming a doctor while raising a large family, Jackie has remained an important source of support.
That made the phone call no family ever wants to receive all the more frightening.
But after a car was destroyed in a high-speed crash, the Pittman family has been left counting its blessings.
Jackie is bruised and battered, but safe – and Jana’s message afterwards was a simple reminder of just how precious an ordinary night with the people you love can suddenly become.
Images: Instagram
