A woman who experienced a terrifying accident in Bali has recounted the moment she lay on the tarmac screaming as she attempted to realign her own fingers. Charlene Morrissey, from Airdrie in North Lanarkshire, endured a horrific ordeal when she was ‘bleeding out for six hours’ and nearly lost her arm on the Indonesian island.
The 33-year-old’s arm got trapped and crushed under a lorry’s wheel after she came off a scooter while travelling through Sidemen, Bali, on July 21. However, when she desperately needed surgery, the Scot faced local medics who wouldn’t operate until they received payment.
In a stroke of luck though, an online fundraiser gathered over £100,000 in just three days to cover the costs of her hospital treatment. Speaking to STV News, a grateful Charlene said: “It’s a miracle I am alive.”
Reflecting on the mental toll, she shared: “When I have really dark moments, it’s hard to bring yourself out of that. I ask ‘what does my life look like going forward, how do I manage this?'”
Struggling with the reality of her injury, she admitted: “It still hasn’t set in that this is now my arm and that I came through that. But I keep thinking how incredibly lucky I am. It has changed my life.”
Charlene initially flew to Bali in January, excited to begin anew, reports the Daily Record. She settled in well and soon found love with her partner, Kenny Wood.
Nevertheless, this dream life took a catastrophic turn during what was supposed to be a joyful camping expedition, leaving her facing a drastically altered future and enduring significant injuries.
Speaking from her Airdrie home with partner Kenny by her side, Charlene recounted the chilling details of the accident. She detailed: “I was slowing down as I came down a steep hill. I put my feet down to stabilise and my bike wobbled.
“I put my right arm out and it went through the gap at the bottom of the lorry, near the wheel. It crushed my hand completely. I pulled my arm out and all of my skin and fat came off. It took everything down to the bone.
“I lay at the side of the road for 40 minutes screaming.” After being discovered by Kenny, Charlene revealed their frantic effort to save her limb.
“My fingers were all in different positions, so I was trying to put them back in place. I was holding my skin up, tying it with string from a camping bag. I was telling Kenny to let me die. But there was this fight in me saying ‘I’m staying alive.’
“I was bleeding out for six hours. How I held on that long, I’ll never know. I didn’t know pain like that existed. That’s something that will never leave me. I don’t even know if I’ll ever have the words to describe it.”
Following the event, she was quickly taken by ambulance to a local hospital, her arm hastily bandaged in muslin cloth. The facility was unequipped to manage her injuries, necessitating a transfer to the BIMC international hospital for further care.
Charlene underwent several blood transfusions, skin grafts, and cardiovascular and orthopaedic surgeries after fundraising enabled her continued treatment.
Charlene’s family was thrown into turmoil when her insurance company refused to cover the costs due to two previous claims, leaving them scrambling to raise funds. Despite being grateful for the donations received, Charlene feels that prompt surgery might have saved her arm’s skin and fat.
She told STV News: “If the surgery had been done on the same night, it might have saved the skin and fat.
“But in three days it had died completely. Unfortunately, I didn’t get physiotherapy in Bali, which would have helped straighten out my hand. It was wrongly positioned for two weeks.
“But I’m so grateful for the love and care from people reaching out to me. It’s humbled me so much. It still blows my mind completely. Without it, my arm probably would have been amputated and I imagine infection would have set in.
“I have scars everywhere and hundreds of stitches. My bones have been completely shattered from the hand down. It’s not pretty. People tell me in a year’s time it will mature and look better. But I think I’ll always need to get surgery to correct this, somehow.”
While battling through her recovery, Charlene revealed she was on a cocktail of strong painkillers like ketamine and fentanyl, which caused confusion. Her ordeal included being hydrated with water via syringe for two weeks, leading her weight to plummet to just six-and-a-half stone.
She recounted the horrifying experience: “I woke up four days later in hospital and I was convinced my arm wasn’t there. I wasn’t aware what was going on, or that my family were there with me.
“I was crying and having breakdowns. I couldn’t eat on the medication and could feel my body shutting down. I was getting blood tests all the time, being poked and prodded with instruments.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to move my hand again. That fear everyday really grinds you down. I’m trying to practice what I preach. Being in a fear state can be bad on the body. Kenny had to contact them as he didn’t know if I was going to make it out alive.
“It broke my heart thinking how they must have felt not knowing if I was going to make it through, or whether I’d have my arm taken off. I can’t imagine getting that call. My dad couldn’t look at the photos.”
After being airlifted to Glasgow Royal Infirmary by a medical liaison team, she disclosed her struggle with medication: “Staff were confused about the medication I was on. Diabetes medication, different antibiotics, fentanyl and tramadol. It was a shock to my body.”
Dealing with her recovery process, she revealed: “I was being weaned off tramadol but having withdrawals and almost collapsing with symptoms, but I said to the hospital I wanted to come off them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s extremely painful and I’ll take paracetamol to help ease.
“But it’s a nerve pressure that never leaves. I am trying mentally to get over the pain, which I believe I can do. I want to naturally detox and be able to get back to the energetic Charlene that I was.”
Charlene is now undergoing intensive physiotherapy eight weeks on and performs exercises every hour to help regain strength in her hand, though the pain often drives her to tears.
She still experiences PTSD symptoms particularly in hospital settings and admits she struggles to accept that her life might look different in the future.
“I feel alone, even now. When you have an accident like this, you still feel alone, in your own body and mind. The work I did, the courage to sell my business and leave the country to all of a sudden, ‘I can’t do these things on my own but you need to be strong.
“I think about things like, how will I deliver a baby or brush my hair? I’ve always been very independent and always challenged myself. So, to see people go out the way for me is hard to take.
“Those moments I’m doing physiotherapy I’m crying and it takes so much energy that’s when the bad thoughts come through. But I’m trying to overcome these hurdles every day and celebrate them.
“I had to learn to walk again. I need to learn to move my arm again. I still can’t sleep properly. I’ve been offered sleeping and anxiety pills but I don’t want to numb anything out. I want to face absolutely everything, every day the good and the bad.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to move my hand again. That fear everyday really grinds you down. But I’m trying to accept the new normal. I know I’ll get through it.”
Web developer Kenny, 33, is still reeling from panic attacks and flashbacks of his partner Charlene’s horrific accident. He shared: “I don’t think anything could have prepared me for what I saw.
“Her whole arm was exposed, I could see muscle and bone. Her hand didn’t look like a hand anymore. There was blood everywhere. It’s a powerless feeling seeing someone you love in so much pain. It’s not something I think will ever leave me.”
He finds it tough to discuss the incident, saying: “It helps Charlene to talk through the accident together and try to understand it as she was in such a state of shock. But I find it really difficult to relive those memories. They keep me up at night.”
Kenny expressed his gratitude towards the “beautiful hearts” who contributed to Charlene’s medical expenses, stating: “The support has been incredible. It was absolutely critical to her survival. It was such a huge weight lifted after the panic of how we will get the money. It was a display of human kindness I don’t think I’ll see again.”
