Riding with her dad, brother and friends on the pedestrian strip along the Warren St bridge, Raven’s bike hit a bit of railing, knocking her off on to the road and into the path of a car.
Luckily, she escaped serious injury thanks to a lot of factors going right, but most of all it was the protection provided by her helmet.
“It was terrifying. It all happened so fast,” her dad, Jarrod, said.
“We were lucky she was wearing long-sleeve clothes and her helmet was done up tight.
“She had gravel rash all across her chin, a bruised spine and tissue damage on her knee.
“If she’d hit the car any harder or if the helmet wasn’t clipped up she would’ve lost it as she went along the road.”
Jarrod also thanked the people who stopped to help.
“Once I put my arm under Raven’s neck I couldn’t go anywhere so someone went and found the other kids I had with me, one bloke brought over a first aid kit and a lady called Janice stayed with Raven the entire time,” he said.
“The helmet kept her face off the ground and when she impacted the car stopped her from slamming into the car.
“Wear a helmet. I don’t think you can stress it enough.”
Thankfully the only physical thing left for Raven to remember the incident by is a teddy bear, the namesake of the nurse who looked after her.
“I named her Gracie and it has a bandage on the exact same knee so it will always remind me what knee it was,” Raven said.
“Her real name was Grace but since she helped me, I named my teddy after her.”
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