CANYONLEIGH farmer Jacqueline Wilson never made it to the Gallipoli centenary commemoration.
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Mrs Wilson was air-lifted home under medical supervision after three weeks' intensive care in an Istanbul hospital.
She had been struck down and seriously injured by a car on a pedestrian crossing outside her hotel on arriving in Turkey.
"My injuries are pretty horrendous. According to the reports, I should have died," she said.
Mrs Wilson is now recuperating at her son's Illawarra home after a short stay in a local hospital.
She has a fractured skull, lacerated liver and lungs, broken ribs, gouged leg, broken thumb, and cuts, abrasions and stitches with "kaleidoscope" bruising.
Most seriously, she suffered a brain haemorrhage in Turkey. In the short term she cannot drive, it pains her to walk, and she relies on daily care.
"Thank God for my strong body, because I am healing. Each day is progress," she said.
Mrs Wilson and her travelling companion had arrived at their Istanbul hotel and decided to go shopping.
They were walking on the pedestrian crossing outside the hotel when Mrs Wilson was "wiped out", she said.
A sedan car struck Mrs Wilson as she crossed. She thinks the driver had hit the accelerator instead of the brake.
"I cannot believe it happened, but it did," she said. "I'm still saying to myself, 'How did this happen?'"
Mrs Wilson had been excited to be going to the Gallipoli centenary, a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" of personal significance.
She is a direct descendent of a WWI combatant and was one of 10,000 people drawn from a ballot of 42,000 for the ceremony.
It was an "extreme disappointment" to miss out, "but I was so ill, I could not muster enough enthusiasm to wish I was there."
Her travelling companion missed their scheduled connection from Istanbul to Gallipoli, but made it to the ceremony with help from the Australian consul.
The consul also helped Mrs Wilson translate reports from the Turkish hospital and police.
She has months of physiotherapy ahead and says her family is keen for her to be independent, "but don't want me to go home until I am really able to".
Readers who are willing and able to help Mrs Wilson transition home to her farm are welcome to call the Southern Highland News, phone 4861 2333.
