A Gold Coast man who was crushed when a bus ploughed into a shelter where he was waiting has spoken out about the horrific ordeal that has changed his life forever.
Kris Williams, 42, woke from a coma thinking he was dead after the devastating crash in West Burleigh left him with catastrophic injuries.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Bus ploughs into shelter, man fights for recovery
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“I really thought I was dead and that I’d woken up in some weird alternative universe,” he said.
His arm was nearly severed, his shoulder, ribs, wrist and fingers were shattered, and his head had to be stapled back together after being crushed.
“I remember the bus flying down the street,” Williams recalled.
“I was just sitting in the bus stop. I just wanted to go home.”
Kris Williams speaks out on the crash. Credit: 7NEWSWilliams was in a coma. Credit: 7NEWS
The 42-year-old’s arm has been rebuilt with skin and veins from his leg in a gruelling 12-hour surgery that saved both his life and limb.
“I don’t have feeling in three out of five fingers,” he said. “In the split second, everything was turned upside down and taken because of someone’s actions.”
But the hardest part is still yet to come. Williams faces more surgery, weeks in hospital, months of rehabilitation and a life changed in an instant.
“I don’t know what that looks like. I don’t know if I’ll be able to work. I don’t know if I’ll be able to ever use this arm again,” he said.
The bus ploughed into the shelter. Credit: 7NEWSHis family is still searching for answers. Credit: 7NEWS
Police say the driver was trying to manoeuvre around a truck when the bus struck the shelter.
While he begins his long road to recovery, his family has launched a GoFundMe page and the Gold Coast City Council is promising a safety audit on the city’s bus stops.
Williams is yet to hear from Kinetic or the council and has been learning details of the crash that changed his life from the news.
“We do want answers and, you know, it shouldn’t happen,” brother Ben Williams said.
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