Mother forever grateful to Royal Flying Doctor Service after 4WD ran over two-year-old son on camping holiday

Running around like a “maniac” at age four, it is hard to guess that just more than a year ago Parker Galloway was run over twice by a LandCruiser while holidaying in Esperance. Beating the odds and surviving the unthinkable accident which left him with internal bleeding, a lacerated liver, broken arm and a pelvis broken in three places, Parker’s family say they could not be more grateful for the support of “angels” who helped pull him through, including the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Parker’s mum, Emma Galloway said she wanted to share her story to help encourage more donations to the service on Wednesday’s Flying Doctor Day, which will see every donation matched dollar-for-dollar by RFDS partners CBH Group, IGO and Westgold. The RFDS “angels”, as Mrs Galloway calls them, not only helped save Parker’s life, but also brought a sense of comfort to her in a moment that felt “surreal”. The Perth family had been staying in a caravan park in Esperance for the Christmas and New Year break — something they planned to do most years — when, just before dinner on January 10, 2023, Parker asked to go for “one more lap” on his scooter. As two-year-old Parker crossed the road, a man driving a LandCruiser towing a trailer failed to see Parker as he crossed on to the wrong side of the road searching for somewhere to park. Parker was struck by the vehicle and run over with both the front and back wheels. By the time Mrs Galloway, her husband Ryan and her then five-year-old son Archie made it to the scene, Parker had been covered with a blanket as he lay under the car. Fortunately, the first people on the scene were a paediatric doctor, a nurse and a midwife — the first lot of angels to look after Parker, Mrs Galloway said. “He was just whimpering and his breathing was sporadic,” she said. “He was conscious but not really responsive so we were just sort of laying with him under the car until the ambulance came and took him to the hospital.” “I remember getting into the ambulance and thinking ‘now we are OK because we are in the ambulance’, but then I went through ‘oh my god, he’s been hit by a car’ and we didn’t, at that point, know exactly what had happened or how bad this was. “And then the same happened when we got to the hospital, I thought ‘OK now we really will be fine’, but so many things were wrong.” At Esperance Health Campus Parker had a full body scan done and then was flown to Perth Children’s Hospital by the RFDS — the second lot of angels who helped save Parker. “It was just so inspiring to watch them stabilise him during that flight and working in such a tiny space,” she said. “I still didn’t really know what was happening and it was extremely loud in there . . . and they were just so beautiful to me because I was obviously very upset. “From the minute that they met you they just made you feel so comfortable and while no doctor can say everything will be fine, you knew you were in good hands.” Parker was in PCH for about a month and Mrs Galloway said the first few nights were nightmarish. “The accident happened around 5.30pm and it was now the early hours of the next morning and all he wanted to do was sleep peacefully, but every time he would fall asleep he would startle and because he had so many broken bones he would just be screaming in pain,” she said. “Eventually he was moved to orthopaedics and had to be in a traction for his pelvis which meant he was stuck on his back and could not move. “But at night he would scream so much and he would end up flipping onto his stomach but with his legs still stuck in the traction. They couldn’t work out what was going on. “He never gave a s*** about his broken arm. They tried to put that in a sling but he just refused to use it. “He was always such an active kid and it was like he just didn’t want to be still . . . and let himself heal.” In true Parker style, he only took a few weeks after being released from hospital to remember how to walk again. “He is still a maniac kid who jumps off things that he probably shouldn’t be at that age, he is very daring,” she said. “He’s never walked, this kid. From the day he started walking, he has basically just run ever since and there has been no slowing him down. “Everything he has been through, you wouldn’t be able to tell now. He is just the happiest kid.” But that doesn’t stop Parker from letting everyone know he was “hit by a car” every chance he gets. And while she could not be more thankful for all the medical professionals who helped save Parker’s life, Mrs Galloway — an admittedly holistic rather than spiritual woman — said she believed the angels of loved ones who had died were helping him the entire way. “It was a LandCruiser, one of the bloody heaviest cars you can get,” she said. “The police checked the CCTV of it and told us what happened and I just think ‘how did he survive that? He shouldn’t have survived that’. “I think what’s happened is he’s been knocked over and the scooter had gone in front of Parker. “So as the wheels have driven over, first of all it’s gone over the scooter first and then just driven over Parker and then come down, and the back wheels have done the same. “So I suppose the scooter probably saved his life and took a lot of the initial weight, because it would have just completely crushed him otherwise. “I’m not spiritual, but I honestly think Ryan’s dad and nan were looking over him, because how can such a little body survive that. They were definitely looking after him that day and it’s so beautiful.” Admitting she had never donated to RFDS before Parker’s accident, Mrs Galloway said it was now the family’s number one charity. “We donate to charities throughout the year and have done for years, and I knew of RFDS and what they do, but it had never occurred to me to donate to them,” she said. “We are Perth people, we live 15 minutes from the CBD and we just never would have thought to donate because we are not in those regional or remote areas. “Obviously now they are our charity of choice because who knows what would have happened without them. “They were able to help us get to Perth as quick as possible to the specialists he needed. “So the whole point of sharing our story is to show that it can happen to anyone at any time and you never know when you might need them.”