Different man: Newcomb’s Greg Branch nurses his lifeless arm.
JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A REGULAR, leisurely Sunday motorcycle ride along the Great Ocean Road cost Greg Branch his life.
Greg isn’t dead but neither does he feel alive.
“It’s cost me plenty,” he observed quietly, his introspection heightened by the recent 10th anniversary of the collision that irrevocably changed him.
“It’s not just the physical injuries; it’s the emotional and psychological scars and the effects on those around me.”
The Newcomb motorcycle mechanic joined a few mates for a typical cruise along the region’s celebrated tourist road, including a regular stop at Lorne’s The Arab cafe for coffee before meandering back home in the afternoon.
But Greg didn’t make it home for another eight months.
While negotiating one of the Great Ocean Road’s many curves, an 18-year-old motorcyclist heading in the opposite direction crossed the white line and crashed head-on into Greg.
“It happened in the blink of an eye. He had to be airlifted to Melbourne because he had severe leg injuries,” Greg recalled.
“Then my lungs collapsed and they had to airlift me out as well. I also had head trauma and had the nerves to my right arm virtually ripped out of my neck.
“He ended up losing his leg and now my right arm’s dead – it has no feeling and no movement.
“It’s ironic: that collision literally cost us an arm and a leg.”
Greg said he suffered daily referred neuropathic pain from his arm.
“It’s a burning sensation. Sometimes it’s so bad I have to knock myself out with pain killers.
“It’s like leprosy; there’s no feeling, so I’ve done a bit of damage to my fingers.
“The doctors want to take the arm off now and I know it makes sense but I haven’t been able to bring myself to it yet.”
The non-physical legacy of the crash was biting deepest for Greg.
“It’s like your personality changes; we become different people. It would only take a little thing to set me off.
“I resorted to verbal abuse. A mate had an accident a while afterwards and suddenly I saw what I was like, except I was worse.
“I thought I was stronger and it shocked me that I could be this way.
“It’s broken my mate. And it’s hit my family hard.
“My wife ended up leaving and my daughter shut down, shut me out.
“It affected me financially as well. I couldn’t work and I lost half my payout to my wife when we separated.
“It’s taken a lot of choices away from me. Once it’s happened you can’t take it back.”
Greg said he had only recently started talking to his ex-wife again and was trying to rebuild his relationship with his daughter.
He also modified his motorbike so he could ride again and renewed his licence.
“I’m one of those people who thought it would never happen to me but it did. I did stupid things as a teenager and now it’s all caught up to me.”
Greg pleaded for other road users to learn from his experience.
“Please, be more aware of what you’re really doing.”
