Cyclist loses leg after being run over by back wheels of lorry - butgets back on bike - LONG

A Happy ending for a gutsy lady.
QUOTE:
A cyclist who lost her leg after she was hit by a skip lorry has got back on the saddle - five years after the crash.

Victoria Lebrec was cycling along London's Old Street one morning in 2014 when she was suddenly struck from the right hand side and thrown to the ground.

The back wheels of the truck ran over the 29-year-old's pelvis, shattering it and causing huge internal bleeding.

A police officer was quick to arrive at the scene and stroked Victoria's hair as she lay in the road, desperately trying but failing to speak.

Victoria clung to life as air ambulance paramedics performed an invasive technique only used when a casualty is on the cusp of death.
The 28-year-old is determined to cycle again following the crash (Image: Milo Boyd/Daily Mirror)

Thanks to the quick actions of emergency service workers she survived and, after several days, woke from a coma to begin the months long road to recovery.

Five years on from a crash that nearly killed her, Victoria has ridden a bike again for the first time.

"I just really, really like cycling," she explained.

"I will be able to cycle again but it will take lots of time and effort learning how to do it.

"I really want to get back on a bike properly again. It’s a really nice thing to do."

Before the crash Victoria was a regular cyclist on London's roads, commuting to work on her bike and riding while on holiday.

While she felt confident peddling around the capital, she had had a few "near misses" - like most people who have navigated the car dominated roads of London.
The Hackney resident said she just "really, really" likes cycling (Image: Milo Boyd/Daily Mirror)

However, Victoria's life changed forever when an HGV driven by Paul-Ioan Mihacea smashed into her in an incident she insists on referring to as a "crash" and not an "accident" - the difference being that it was preventable, like many of the 18,477 cyclists injured and 102 killed on UK roads in 2016.

The fact she didn't find herself in the latter camp was largely due to air ambulance paramedics performing a REBOA.

The rare technique stems rapid blood loss by placing a flexible catheter into the femoral artery and inflating a dam like balloon at its tip.

She was only the second person in the country to survive such dramatic surgery.

Despite viewing the loss of her leg as entirely preventable, Victoria has not held a grudge against Mr Mihacea.

After he was fined £750 and given five penalty points for careless driving at Blackfriars Crown Court in 2015, the two came face to face outside the courtroom.

"He didn’t do this intentionally obviously," Victoria said.

"He looked really ashen faced and said he was sorry. It was an emotional moment.

"His life had been affected by what happened too. We hugged."
Victoria Lebrec lost her leg after a skip lorry smashed into her (Image: Milo Boyd/Daily Mirror)

Although she found peace with Mr Mihacea, who was speaking on a hands free phone in the moments before the crash, she is not content with the current cycling situation on London's streets.

Having left her pre-crash career in advertising behind her, Victoria now campaigns for safer conditions for cyclists through charity Roadpeace.

As well as campaigning for better infrastructure at junctions, segregated cycle lanes and HGVs more suited to navigating narrow city roads, she wants drivers to start thinking more about cyclists.

Old Street in east London is one of the UK's best examples of cyclists being put in dangerous situations because of poor road planning.

In the four years after Victoria was hit, both Julie Dinsdale and Sarah Doone were struck down by HGVs on the same road.

Like Victoria, both luckily survived but lost a leg.

These women are just three of the 168 cyclists that have been hit on Old Street and the adjoining Clerkenwell Road since 2014 according to the Department for Transport, with 20 of that number seriously injured and one killed.

The need to improve the conditions on Britain's roads has rarely been more pressing than it is now, as the lockdown pushes people off public transport and onto bikes.

Although extensive research has not be conducted, the Bicycle Association recorded a 112% year-on-year increase in bike sales in April, suggesting millions more Brits are hopping onto the saddle.

In a bid to sooth the fears of the 61% of people a pre-lockdown Government survey found believed cycling on the roads was too dangerous, £250million of emergency funding has been released to ease congestion.
She has ridden an accessible bicycle powered by her arms (Image: Milo Boyd/Daily Mirror)

"I don’t have PTSD, but now I am extremely wary of roads and intolerant of people driving badly," the Hackney resident continued.

"People don’t realise how much they’re putting other people at risk."

As for the so-called war of the roads programmes, such as Channel 5's 'Cyclists: Scourge of the Road', Victoria says there needs to be a truce between the two-wheeled and four-wheeled travellers.

"I can understand that there’s animosity but taking risks is just not worth those extra few seconds," she said.

"Remember these are all just people trying to get to their destinations.

"It’s not cyclist or drivers, it's people trying to get places. Lots of people both cycle and drive. We need to try to change the mentality."

In a bid to overcome her injury and to return to something she loves, Victoria is learning to cycle again.

After training on a bike with stabilisers during her physiotherapy, she went to an accessible bike workshop in Victoria Park and rode a hand-powered bike.

"It might take some time but I will be able to cycle again," Victoria continued.

"I really want to get back on the bike."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...being-17261720