LIAM Longbottom had a lucky escape when he crashed head-first into a tree after suffering a micro sleep.
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The 20 year old former Port Macquarie man was on the way to his labouring job when he fell asleep behind the wheel in country NSW on Wednesday, January 25.
The hard working man had earlier stopped on the side of the road between Grenfell and Young on the Henry Lawson Way to have a power nap before starting work.
What makes the accident even more remarkable is that he suffered only a broken femur and some minor injuries.
His dad, Port Macquarie local Bruce, said he is very lucky it was not worse.
“He was actually stuck in the car for two hours, and he said all he could see was the bone sticking out of his leg,” he said.
“He was out in the middle of nowhere and was off the road a bit. The rescue workers cut him out of the car eventually, but he’s a very lucky boy.”
Liam has been confined to a bed at Canberra hospital since the crash, but is now on the mend and hopeful of returning to Port Macquarie to continue the recovery.
It is expected it will take three months for him to be able to walk properly again.
“I want to stress that he tried to do the right thing by pulling over on the side of the road to sleep when he felt tired,” Bruce said.
“Even though he did the right thing, he still had a micro sleep. It’s a reminder to everyone to be more cautious and to get out of the car for 10 minutes and get the blood flowing when you’re tired.”
Due to the long recovery time and no insurance pay out, due to it happening on the way to work and not during, his partner, Olivia Grace-Curran, has created a GoFundMe account to help him get back on his feet and assist with the large financial burden.
People can visit https://www.gofundme.com/lets-get-longy-back-on-his-feet to donate.