Two brave young boys helped save their parents after a horror crash in the Outback on Australia Day.
Charles and Mary-Lou McGregor-Shaw were driving two of their three sons – Stirling, 16, and Willard, 11 – to the Shady Camp fishing spot in Northern Territory when their car was struck head-on by another vehicle on a sharp bend on Arnhemseweg . Motorway.
In the monsoon rain, Stirling and Willard ignored their own injuries to help their seriously injured parents at the crash site, about an hour’s drive southeast of Darwin.
Due to the isolated crash location, it took considerable time before Charles and Mary-Lou could be freed by emergency services.
Rescue crews also freed the driver from the other vehicle and all five injured people were rushed to the Royal Darwin Hospital ICU.
Mary-Lou suffered severe head trauma and underwent two life-saving emergency surgeries in the first 24 hours.
Charles suffered multiple broken bones, including spinal injuries in his neck and back, which surgeons attempted to stabilize.
A devastating head-on highway collision has devastated the lives of the McGregor-Shaw family (pictured left to right behind Stirling, Mary-Lou, Charles, front Willard and George)
Meanwhile, Willard underwent surgery to repair a ruptured intestine, and Stirling underwent operations on his broken leg and shoulder.
Mary-Lou was placed in a coma with serious brain injuries and was flown to Perth with Charles for specialist care.
The couple’s middle son, George, who had been on interstate vacation, flew home to wait with his grandparents and extended family for news.
a GoFundMe page was founded by Jo Brosnan to help the family, especially grandparents Maureen and William O’Keeffe, who moved from Katherine in the central Northern Territory to Darwin to care for the boys at their home.
“Financial support is needed to support the boys’ grandparents, Maureen and Bill O’Keeffe, who are covering the costs of caring for three teenage boys while their parents are incapacitated,” Ms Brosnan said.
“Family members are making sure Charles and Mary-Lou’s bills are paid and their home in Darwin and their pets are taken care of.”
Mary-Lou and her three sons George, Willard and Stirling on a fishing trip in the Northern Territory
Incredibly, the page reached its original $30,000 in donations in just four hours and after just one day, it almost reached its new goal of $150,000.
Ms Brosnan says the McGregor-Shaws are a ‘well-loved, humble and community-minded family’, where Charles helps crew and trains staff for CareFlight rescue helicopters.
“He helps save lives every day and cares for people in their most vulnerable moments of fear and trauma,” she wrote.
The McGregor-Shaws are described as ‘passionate about family, rugby league, fishing, motorbikes, chooks, vegetable gardens, dogs and friends.’
They “are most notable for the time they spend volunteering in sports, school and fundraising,” according to the fundraising page.
‘Mary-Lou is a former CWA champion, volunteer lactation consultant, a footy team manager (and a die-hard Cowboys supporter), Chuck has been the footy club medic and both support the coaches in any way they can.’
In an update, the page urged the donor to “keep going; “We don’t know how long the boys’ parents’ recovery will take, but we do know it will take many, many months.”